Analysis of Winter Complaint
Ogden Nash 1902 (Rye, New York) – 1971 (Baltimore)
Now when I have a cold
I am careful with my cold,
I consult a physician
And I do as I am told.
I muffle up my torso
In woolly woolly garb,
And I quaff great flagons
Of sodium bicarb.
I munch on aspirin,
I lunch on water,
And I wouldn’t dream of osculating
Anybody’s daughter,
And to anybody’s son
I wouldn’t say howdy,
For I am a sufferer
Magna cum laude.
I don’t like germs,
But I’ll keep the germs I’ve got.
Will I take a chance of spreading them?
Definitely not.
I sneeze out the window
And I cough up the flue,
And I live like a hermit
Till the germs get through.
And because I’m considerate,
Because I’m wary,
I am treated by my friends
Like Typhoid Mary.
Now when you have a cold
You are careless with your cold,
You are cocky as a gangster
Who has just been paroled.
You ignore your physician,
You eat steaks and oxtails,
You stuff yourself with starches,
You drink lots of cocktails,
And you claim that gargling
Is a time of waste,
And you won’t take soda
For you don’t like the taste,
And you prowl around parties
Full of selfish bliss,
And greet your hostess
With a genial kiss.
You convert yourself
Into a deadly missile,
You exhale Hello’s
Like a steamboat whistle.
You sneeze in the subway
And you cough at dances,
And let everybody else
Take their own good chances.
You’re a bronchial boor,
A bacterial blighter,
And you get more invitations
Than a gossip writer.
Yes, your throat is froggy,
And your eyes are swimmy,
And you hand is clammy,
And you nose is brimmy,
But you woo my girls
And their hearts you jimmy
While I sit here
With the cold you gimmy.
Scheme | AABACDCDXEFEBGEXXHIHCJKJKGXG AAEABCXXFLXLXMXMXNCNXOXOXEXE FIGIXGXI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101 1110111 1010010 0111111 110111 010101 01111 11001 11110 11110 011111 110 0111 11110 1110100 1011 1111 1110111 111011101 10001 111010 011101 0111010 10111 00110100 01110 1110111 11010 111101 1110111 11101010 111101 1011010 11101 1101110 11111 01111 10111 011110 111101 0110110 11101 01110 10101 11001 0101010 1011 10110 11001 011110 011001 111110 101001 001001 0111010 101010 11111 01111 011110 01111 11111 011110 1111 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,532 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 28, 28, 8 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 406 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 100 |
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"Winter Complaint" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/58854/winter-complaint>.
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