Analysis of The Prinkin' Leddie
Elinor Morton Wylie 1885 (Somerville, New Jersey) – 1928 (New York City, New York)
The Hielan' lassies are a' for spinnin',
The Lowlan' lassies for prinkin' and pinnin';
My daddie w'u'd chide me, an' so w'u'd my minnie
If I s'u'd bring hame sic a prinkin' leddie.
Now haud your tongue, ye haverin' coward,
For whilst I'm young I'll go flounced an' flowered,
In lutestring striped like the strings o' a fiddle,
Wi' gowden girdles aboot my middle.
In your Hielan' glen, where the rain pours steady,
Ye'll be gay an' glad for a prinkin' leddie;
Where the rocks are all bare an' the turf is all sodden,
An' lassies gae sad in their homespun an' hodden.
My silks are stiff wi' patterns o' siller,
I've an ermine hood like the hat o' a miller,
I've chains o' coral like rowan berries,
An' a cramoisie mantle that cam' frae Paris.
Ye'll be glad for the glint o' its scarlet linin'
When the larks are up an' the sun is shinin';
When the winds are up an' ower the heather
Your heart'll be gay wi' my gowden feather.
When the skies are low an' the earth is frozen,
Ye'll be gay an' glad for the leddie ye've chosen,
When ower the snow I go prinkin' an' prancin'
In my wee red slippers were made for dancin'.
It's better a leddie like Solomon's lily
Than one that'll run like a Hielan' gillie
A-linkin' it ower the leas, my laddie,
In a raggedy kilt an' a belted pladdie!
Scheme | AAAB BBCC BBAA DDXX AADD AAAA EEBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (71%) |
Metre | 0111011 0111101 11111111110 111111011 11111110 1111111110 0111011010 1111110 0111101110 111111011 1011111011110 111101111 1111110110 111011011010 1111011010 1011011110 11110111101 1011110111 1011111010 111111110 10111101110 111111011110 110111111 0111100111 11001110010 1110110110 01110111 00100110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,278 |
Words | 243 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 125 Views
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"The Prinkin' Leddie" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10183/the-prinkin%27-leddie>.
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