Analysis of Queen Gormlai
Padraic Colum 1881 (County Longford) – 1972 (Enfield)
NOT fingers that e'er felt
Fine things within their hold
Drew needles in and through,
And smoothed out the fold,
And put the hodden patch
Upon the patch of grey
Unseemly is the garb
That's for my back to-day!
O skinflint woman, Mor,
Who knows that I speak true
I had women once,
A queen's retinue;
And they were ones who knew
The raiment of a queen;
Their thoughts were on my tire,
Their minds were on my mien!
Light of hand and apt,
And companionable,
Seven score women, Mor,
I had at my call,
Who am to-day begrudged
The blink of candle-light
To put it on, the garb,
That leaves me misbedight.
I wore a blue Norse hood
The time I watched the turns
And feats of Clann O'Neill
We quaffed from goblet-horns;
A crimson cloak I wore
When, with Niall the King,
I watched the horses race
At Limerick in the Spring!
In Tara of King Niall
The gold was round the wine,
And I was given the cup
A furze-bright dress was mine;
And now this clout to wear
Where I rise to sup whey,
With root-like stitches through
The hodden on the grey!
No more upon the board
Candles for kings are lit,
No more can I bid her
And her bring gowning fit;
The bramble is no friend
It pulls at me and drags;
The thorny ground is mine
Where briars tear my rags!
Scheme | ABCBXDED FCXCCGHG XIFIAXEA XXIXFJXJ IKXKXDCD XLHLXMKM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101101 110111 110001 01101 01011 010111 010101 111111 110101 111111 11101 0110 010111 01101 1101110 110111 11101 01 101101 11111 11111 011101 111101 1111 110111 011101 011101 111101 010111 11101 110101 1100001 010111 011101 0111001 011111 011111 111111 111101 01101 110101 101111 111110 00111 010111 111101 010111 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,188 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 158 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 33 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Queen Gormlai" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28493/queen-gormlai>.
Discuss this Padraic Colum poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In