Chapter XII: Of What Occurred Subsequently
seven young Parrots,and the seven young Storks,and the seven young Geese,and the seven young Owls,and the seven young Guinea Pigs,and the seven young Cats,and the seven young Fishes,
About this text
Chapter XII: Of What Occurred Subsequently is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nonsense Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #13647; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Lear, Chapter XII: Of What Occurred Subsequently, in Nonsense Songs (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13647, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lear-nonsense-songs/chapter-xii-of-what-occurred-subsequently.html, id L16737.
Form and metre
Chapter XII: Of What Occurred Subsequently is 7 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| seven young Parrots, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| and the seven young Storks, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| and the seven young Geese, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| and the seven young Owls, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| and the seven young Guinea Pigs, | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| and the seven young Cats, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| and the seven young Fishes, | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
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.