Analysis of The White Foxglove
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Reynard, the fox, was asked to a party.
"Come", they said, in your Sunday best,
For we like good form, tho' the fun be hearty;
So all who dance must be formally dressed:
Black tail-coat and a shirt-front gleaming.
Brushed and burnished each dancing shoe,
Pantaloons with a silk braid seaming,
Clean white gloves of the snowiest hue.
This most especially -
Very especially -
Snow-white gloves of a spotless hue.
Reynard, the fox, as he dressed (says the fable)
Dreamed of the dance and his lady love,
Then he searched and he hunted in dresser and table,
But all he discovered was - one old glove!
A horrible glove, with a broad black stitching
Sorriest match for his stiff white shirt.
Could lover go wooing a maid so bewitching,
Wearing but one glove, grubby with dirt?
Oh, most disgustedly -
Very disgustedly -
Creased and crumpled and yellow with dirt.
Said Reynard, the fox, to the King of the Fairies,
"King, I come to you craving a dower.
Gloves! All as white as the lamb that was Mary's.
Pray you, fashion a pair from a magic flower.
>From a summer cloud, from the web of a spider.
Skin of a toadstool, a snowberry rind,
Down from the breast of a fledgling eider."
And the King said "Sure", for the King was kind.
Ever so graciously -
Gaily and graciously -
"Oke", said the Monarch, for he was kind.
Then Reynard, the fox, beheld a wonder:
A wave of his wand by the Fairy King -
And there, with the green leaves spreading under,
Sprang forth a sceptre, a magic thing
With garlands of gloves in a gleaming cluster,
White as the fleeces of new-shorn flocks
That fairy shepherds in Arcady muster.
And a pair they presented to Reynard, the fox.
They fitted him perfectly.
Said the King, "perfectly"
"Your Majesty.' Thank you!" said Reynard, the fox.
Reynard, the fox, made haste to the revel;
Beau of the ball, as they had to confess.
And the ladies sighed, "What a handsome devil?"
As for his lady - of course it was, "yes".
Then they danced and they fasted with merry laughter.
While Reynard weaved dreams in the clouds above.
And they called that blossom, from then ever after -
Men, foxes and fairies - the white Fox-glove.
Tall and so slenderly
Graceful and tenderly,
Swaying its sceptre - the White Fox-Glove.
Scheme | ABABCDCDAAD EFEFCGCGEEG HIHJJKIKAAK JCJCJLJLAAL EMEMJFJFEAF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (24%) |
Metre | 1001111010 1110111 11111101110 1111111001 111001110 10101101 1010111 1111011 11010 10010 11110101 10011111010 110101101 1110110010010 1110101111 01001101110 1111111 1101100111 101111011 111 101 101001011 110011011010 111111001 11111011110 111001101010 101011011010 1101011 110110101 0011110111 101100 100100 11011111 110011010 0111110101 0110111010 110100101 1111001010 110101111 110100110 001101011001 1101100 101100 11001111001 1001111010 1101111101 00101101010 1111011111 111011011010 1101100101 011110111010 1100100111 1011 100100 101100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,171 |
Words | 407 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 11, 11, 11, 11 |
Lines Amount | 55 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 340 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 80 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 69 Views
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