Analysis of Captain Carpenter
John Crowe Ransom 1888 (Pulaski) – 1974 (Gambier)
Captain Carpenter rose up in his prime
Put on his pistols and went riding out
But had got wellnigh nowhere at that time
Till he fell in with ladies in a rout.
It was a pretty lady and all her train
That played with him so sweetly but before
An hour she'd taken a sword with all her main
And twined him of his nose for evermore.
Captain Carpenter mounted up one day
And rode straightway into a stranger rogue
That looked unchristian but be that as may
The Captain did not wait upon prologue.
But drew upon him out of his great heart
The other swung against him with a club
And cracked his two legs at the shinny part
And let him roll and stick like any tub.
Captain Carpenter rode many a time
From male and female took he sundry harms
He met the wife of Satan crying "I'm
The she-wolf bids you shall bear no more arms.
Their strokes and counters whistled in the wind
I wish he had delivered half his blows
But where she should have made off like a hind
The bitch bit off his arms at the elbows.
And Captain Carpenter parted with his ears
To a black devil that used him in this wise
O Jesus ere his threescore and ten years
Another had plucked out his sweet blue eyes.
Captain Carpenter got up on his roan
And sallied from the gate in hell's despite
I heard him asking in the grimmest tone
If any enemy yet there was to fight?
"To any adversary it is fame
If he risk to be wounded by my tongue
Or burnt in two beneath my red heart's flame
Such are the perils he is cast among.
"But if he can he has a pretty choice
From an anatomy with little to lose
Whether he cut my tongue and take my voice
Or whether it be my round red heart he choose. "
It was the neatest knave that ever was seen
Stepping in perfume from his lady's bower
Who at this word put in his merry mien
And fell on Captain Carpenter like a tower.
I would not knock old fellows in the dust
But there lay Captain Carpenter on his back
His weapons were the old heart in his bust
And a blade shook between rotten teeth alack.
The rogue in scarlet and grey soon knew his mind.
He wished to get his trophy and depart
With gentle apology and touch refined
He pierced him and produced the Captain's heart.
God's mercy rest on Captain Carpenter now (a,
I thought him Sirs an honest gentleman
Citizen husband soldier and scholar enow
Let jangling kites eat of him if they can.
But God's deep curses follow after those
That shore him of his goodly nose and ears
His legs and strong arms at the two elbows
And eyes that had not watered seventy years.
The curse of hell upon the sleek upstart
That got the Captain finally on his back
And took the red red vitals of his heart
And made the kites to whet their beaks clack clack.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEX GHGH AIAI JKJK LMLM NONO PQPQ RSRS TUTU VWVF JGJG EYCY KLKL GWGW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010011011 1111001101 11111111 1110110001 11010100101 1111110101 110110011101 011111110 1010010111 011010101 11111111 0101110110 1101111111 0101011101 011111011 0111011101 1010011001 110111101 1101110101 0111111111 1101010001 1111010111 1111111101 011111101 01010010111 10110111011 110111011 0101111111 1010011111 011010101 1111000101 11010011111 110100111 1111110111 1101011111 1101011101 1111110101 11010011011 1011110111 11011111111 11010111011 10001111010 1111101101 011101001010 1111110001 11110100111 1100011011 0011011011 01010011111 1111110001 11001000101 1110010101 110111010010 1111110100 10010100101 111111111 1111010101 1111110101 110111011 01111101001 011101011 11010100111 010111111 0101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,684 |
Words | 527 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 2:40 min read
- 161 Views
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"Captain Carpenter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22379/captain-carpenter>.
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