On Lieutenant Eyre’s Narrative of the Disasters at Cabul
A sorry tale, of sorry plans,Which this conclusion grants,That Affghan clans had all the KhansAnd we had all the cant’s.
About this text
On Lieutenant Eyre’s Narrative of the Disasters at Cabul is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Comic Poems of Thomas Hood A New and Complete Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #56712; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, On Lieutenant Eyre’s Narrative of the Disasters at Cabul, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/on-lieutenant-eyre-s-narrative-of-the-disasters-at-cabul.html, id L06821.
Form and metre
On Lieutenant Eyre’s Narrative of the Disasters at Cabul is 4 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 7.0 syllables.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A sorry tale, of sorry plans, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Which this conclusion grants, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| That Affghan clans had all the Khans | 8 | ········ |
| And we had all the cant’s. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.