Analysis of Scuttle, Scuttle, Little Roach
Christopher Morley 1890 (Haverford) – 1957
SCUTTLE, scuttle, little roach—
How you run when I approach:
Up above the pantry shelf,
Hastening to secrete yourself.
Most adventurous of vermin,
How I wish I could determine
How you spend your hours of ease,
Perhaps reclining on the cheese.
Cook has gone, and all is dark—
Then the kitchen is your park:
In the garbage heap that she leaves
Do you browse among the tea leaves?
How delightful to suspect
All the places you have trekked:
Does your long antenna whisk its
Gentle tip across the biscuits?
Do you linger, little soul,
Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
Or, abandonment most utter,
Shake a shimmy on the butter?
Do you chant your simple tunes
Swimming in the baby's prunes?
Then, when dawn comes, do you slink
Homeward to the kitchen sink?
Timid roach, why be so shy?
We are brothers, thou and I.
In the midnight, like yourself,
I explore the pantry shelf!
Scheme | AABB XXCC DDEE FFXX GGHH IIDX JJBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 1010101 1111101 1010101 10010101 10100110 11111010 11111011 01010101 1110111 1010111 00101111 11101011 1010101 1010111 11101011 10101010 1110101 1010101 10100110 10101010 1111101 1000101 1111111 1010101 1011111 1110101 001101 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 974 |
Words | 156 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 203 Views
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