Analysis of Kenmare River

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch 1863 (Bodmin, Cornwall) – 1944 (Cornwall)



'Tis pretty to be in Ballinderry,
'Tis pretty to be in Ballindoon,
But 'tis prettier far in County Kerry
Coortin' under the bran' new moon,
Aroon, Aroon!
'Twas there by the bosom of blue Killarney
They came by the hundther' a-coortin' me;
Sure I was the one to give back their blarney,
An' merry was I to be fancy-free.
But niver a step in the lot was lighter,
An' divvle a boulder among the bhoys,
Than Phelim O'Shea, me dynamither,
Me illigant arthist in clock-work toys.
'Twas all for love he would bring his figgers
Of iminent statesmen, in toy machines,
An' hould me hand as he pulled the thriggers
An' scattered the thraytors to smithereens.
An' to see the Queen in her Crystial Pallus
Fly up to the roof, an' the windeys broke!
And all with divvle a trace of malus,—
But he was the bhoy that enjoyed his joke!
Then O, but his cheek would flush, an' 'Bridget,'
He 'd say, 'Will yez love me?' But I 'd be coy
And answer him, 'Arrah now, dear, don't fidget!'
Though at heart I loved him, me arthist bhoy!
One night we stood by the Kenmare river,
An' 'Bridget, creina, now whist,' said he,
'I'll be goin' to-night, an' may be for iver;
Open your arms at the last to me.'
'Twas there by the banks of the Kenmare river
He took in his hands me white, white face,
An' we kissed our first an' our last for iver—
For Phelim O'Shea is disparsed in space.
'Twas pretty to be by blue Killarney,
'Twas pretty to hear the linnets's call,
But whist! for I cannot attind their blarney,
Nor whistle in answer at all, at all.
For the voice that he swore 'ud out-call the linnet's
Is cracked intoirely, and out of chune,
Since the clock-work missed it by thirteen minutes
An' scattered me Phelim around the moon,
Aroon, Aroon!


Scheme ababBbcbaadaddddddedefghiacacadadbjbjdbdbB
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101 1101101 11100101010 1100111 11 111010111 11101011 1110111111 1101111101 11001001110 110100101 11111 1110111 111111111 11100101 111111101 11001101 111010011 111011011 01110111 1110110111 111111111 111111111111 0101111110 111111111 111110110 1111111 11111111110 101110111 1110110110 110111111 1111011101110 1111101 11011111 11011011 111110111 1100101111 10111111101 1110111 10111111110 110110101 11
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,716
Words 328
Sentences 15
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 42
Lines Amount 42
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,289
Words per stanza (avg) 320
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:38 min read
91

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch was a Cornish writer who published using the pseudonym Q. more…

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