Analysis of A Dream Of Hindostan.
Thomas Moore 1779 (Dublin) – 1852 (Bromham)
--risum tenaetis, amici
"The longer one lives, the more one learns,"
Said I, as off to sleep I went,
Bemused with thinking of Tithe concerns,
And reading a book by the Bishop of FERNS,[1]
On the Irish Church Establishment.
But lo! in sleep not long I lay,
When Fancy her usual tricks began,
And I found myself bewitched away
To a goodly city in Hindostan--
A city where he who dares to dine
On aught but rice is deemed a sinner;
Where sheep and kine are held divine,
And accordingly--never drest for dinner.
"But how is this?" I wondering cried--
As I walkt that city fair and wide,
And saw, in every marble street,
A row of beautiful butchers' shops--
"What means, for men who don't eat meat,
"This grand display of loins and chops?"
In vain I askt--'twas plain to see
That nobody dared to answer me.
So on from street to street I strode:
And you can't conceive how vastly odd
The butchers lookt--a roseate crew,
Inshrined in stalls with naught to do;
While some on a bench, half dozing, sat,
And the Sacred Cows were not more fat.
Still posed to think what all this scene
Of sinecure trade was meant to mean,
"And, pray," askt I--"by whom is paid
The expense of this strange masquerade?"--
"The expense!--oh! that's of course defrayed
(Said one of these well-fed Hecatombers)
"By yonder rascally rice-consumers."
"What! they who mustn't eat meat!"--
No matter--
(And while he spoke his cheeks grew fatter,)
"The rogues may munch their Paddy crop,
"But the rogues must still support our shop,
"And depend upon it, the way to treat
"Heretical stomachs that thus dissent,
"Is to burden all that won't eat meat,
"With a costly MEAT ESTABLISHMENT."
On hearing these words so gravely said,
With a volley of laughter loud I shook,
And my slumber fled and my dream was sped,
And I found I was lying snug in bed,
With my nose in the Bishop of FERNS'S book.
Scheme | A ABAACDEDEFGFG HHIAIAAX XXJJKKLLMMBAAIGGNNIBIC OPOOP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111 010110111 11111111 011101101 01001101011 101010100 11011111 1100100101 01110101 10101001 010111111 111111010 11011101 00100101110 111111001 111110101 010100101 011100101 11111111 11011101 01111111 1111101 11111111 011011101 010101001 1011111 111011101 001010111 11111111 1111111 01111111 00111101 00111111 1111111 11011010 1111011 110 011111110 01111101 1011101101 0010110111 0100101101 111011111 101010100 110111101 1010110111 0110101111 0111110101 1110010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,816 |
Words | 350 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 13, 8, 22, 5 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 281 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 3 Views
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"A Dream Of Hindostan." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56773/a-dream-of-hindostan.>.
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