Analysis of Biddy, be Kind!

William Henry Ogilvie 1869 (Scotland) – 1963



Now what do you want to be playing about for,
Reefing and reaching your head for the bit?
This is the gentlest of canters you're out for,
And neither yourself nor your rider is fit ;
I, who have lazed .
While the summer sun blazed,
At ease in a hammock with cool things to drink;
You, late a rover
In cocksfoot and clover,
With mud on your mane-locks and loose shoes a-clink.
This is too soon to be prancing and sidling;
The elm is still green and the ditches are blind;
The sun is still strong and suggestive of idling-
So, Biddy, be kind!
Time and enough when they're drawing the gorses
To put up your back with those ominous squeals,
To plunge when they pass you on cantering horses,
To flaunt your red ribbon and fling up your heels.
Slippy and tarred
Is the highway, and hard;
A fall is the last thing on earth I desire;
By all means be sprightly, But do it politely
With not too much fervour and not too much fire.
The season's too young yet for trying a tussle;
Rough-riding at present is not to my mind;
Just wait a few weeks till we work up our muscle-
Come, Biddy, be kind!


Scheme ABABBCDEEDFGFGHHHHIIEJEKGKG
Poetic Form
Metre 111111110011 101011101 11010011111 01001111011 1111 101011 11001011111 11010 01010 11111101101 111111100100 01111001011 0111100101100 11011 1001111001 11111111001 1111111110 11111001111 101 10101 011011111010 111110111010 11111011110 010111110010 11011011111 1101111111010 11011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,090
Words 210
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 27
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 837
Words per stanza (avg) 210
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

1:03 min read
73

William Henry Ogilvie

William Henry Ogilvie was a Scottish-Australian narrative poet and horseman. more…

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