Analysis of Little Billee
William Makepeace Thackeray 1811 – 1863
Air--"il y avait un petit navire."
There were three sailors of Bristol city
Who took a boat and went to sea.
But first with beef and captain's biscuits
And pickled pork they loaded she.
There was gorging Jack and guzzling Jimmy,
And the youngest he was little Billee.
Now when they got as far as the Equator
They'd nothing left but one split pea.
Says gorging Jack to guzzling Jimmy,
"I am extreamely hungaree."
To gorging Jack says guzzling Jimmy,
"We've nothing left, us must eat we."
Says gorging Jack to guzzling Jimmy,
"With one another we shouldn't agree!
There's little Bill, he's young and tender,
We're old and tough, so let's eat he.
"Oh! Billy, we're going to kill and eat you,
So undo the button of your chemie."
When Bill received this information
He sued his pocket handkerchie.
"First let me say my catechism
Which my poor mammy taught to me."
"Make haste, make haste," says guzzling Jimmy,
While Jack pulled his snickersnee.
So Billy went up to the main-top gallant mast,
And down he fell on bended knee.
He scarse had come to the twelfth commandment
when up he jumps. "There's land I see:
"Jerusalem and Madagascar,
And North and South Amerikee;
There's the British flag a-riding at anchor,
With Admiral Napier, K.C.B."
So when they got aboard of the admiral's,
He hanged flat Jack and flogged Jimmee;
But as fro little Bill he make hime
The Captain of a Seventy-three
Scheme | a bbxb bxab Babb Baab xbcx dbbc xbxb axax xdxa |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 1011011010 11010111 111101010 01011101 1111010010 001011101 11111110010 11011111 111110010 1111 111110010 11011111 111110010 1101011001 110111010 11011111 11011011011 1010101110 11011010 111101 11111100 1111111 1111110010 11111 110111011101 01111101 1111101010 11111111 01000010 01011 10101010110 11001001 11110110100 1111011 111101111 010101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,357 |
Words | 255 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 90 Views
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"Little Billee" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41016/little-billee>.
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