Analysis of Ye Wives Who Scold & Fishes Sell
Thomas Parnell 1679 (Dublin) – 1718
Ye Wives who scold fishes sell,
Or sing sell your fruit,
I want a wondrous thing to tell,
Then (if you can) be mute.
From some of You one Homer came,
Who wrote a ballad first,
For He knew neither Parents name
Nor livd where he was nurst
His verse in length exceeds us all
So when a crowd he drew,
Like you he got him to a stall,
spoke as long as you.
Some tatterd Mermaid gave him birth
Who crys her oyster wares
Or Else some ragged nymph of earth
Who sings her Mellow pears
If 'twas the nymph of fruit was prest,
Apollo was ye Lover:
With tunefull cry he filld her breast,
got a singing Rover.
A Man, tho blind, yet usd to ply
Where 'ere he heard of Chear;
His dog it seems preserved an eye,
Its Master livd by ear.
Or if Apollo chancd to Love
The Mermaid near ye sea,
Whose shriller voice he taught to move
With buy my oysters pray.
Her shriller voice when raised to Ire
Woud thunder on ye crew,
So from ye Mother ye Sire
Old Homers Iliad grew.
then (as big with child she stood)
The place she sold her fishes
Might in his fancy form a floud
To rage in all th' Odysses.
Scheme | ABABCDCBEFEFGHGHIJIJKFKLMNOPQFJFRSBH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 11111 11010111 111111 11111101 110101 11110101 111111 11010111 110111 11111101 11111 111111 110101 11110111 110101 11011111 0101110 1111101 101010 01111111 111111 11110111 110111 11010111 01111 1111111 111101 0111111 110111 11110110 1101001 1111111 0111010 10110101 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,046 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 825 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 217 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 125 Views
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"Ye Wives Who Scold & Fishes Sell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37097/ye-wives-who-scold-%26-fishes-sell>.
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