Analysis of The Mimic Harlequin
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
'I'll make believe, and fancy something strange:
I will suppose I have the power to change
And make all things unlike to what they were,
To jump through windows and fly through the air,
And quite confound all places and all times,
Like harlequins we see in pantomimes.
These thread-papers my wooden sword must be,
Nothing more like one I at present see.
And now all round this drawing-room I'll range,
And every thing I look at I will change.
Here's Mopsa, our old cat, shall be a bird;
To a Poll parrot she is now transferred.
Here's mamma's work-bag, now I will engage
To whisk this little bag into a cage;
And now, my pretty parrot, get you in it,
Another change I'll show you in a minute.'
'O fie, you naughty child, what have you done?
There never was so mischievous a son.
You've put the cat among my work, and torn
A fine laced cap that I but once have worn.'
Scheme | AAXXBBCCAADDEEXX FFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101010101 11011101011 0111011110 1111001101 0101110011 111101 1110110111 1011111101 0111110111 01001111111 1110111101 1011011101 111111101 1111010101 01110101101 01011110010 1111011111 1101110001 1101011101 0111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 855 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 332 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 82 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 61 Views
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"The Mimic Harlequin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5402/the-mimic-harlequin>.
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