Analysis of Step Right Up
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
So I'm grinning like the Cheshire
Canary that ate the cat
I sang my prose, I tipped my toes
And now I tap my hat
Selling secrets as if I thought
You should think that they should matter
I'm a carnival contraption
I'm the Madder Madcap Hatter
Pay for your ticket, find your seat
Have a cup of tea, m'dear
The theaters filled, the souls are empty
We're all mad here
There's popcorn laced with Thorazine
Gray Matter Flambe on a bun
Bathtubs filled with banana slugs
We're gonna have a whole lot of fun
Check your soul at the door, my dear
Hang it right there with your brother's
Empty your dignity, remove your belt
Through the scanner with the others
Pay for your ticket, find your seat
Have a cup of tea, m'dear
The theaters filled, the souls are empty
We're all mad here
Tattoos and piercings a la mode
Discounts on amputations
Won't feel a thing we feel dancing
In surgically enhanced sensation
The roses are all crocheted here
The poop in the garden plastic
The flies just props from a novelty store
Come trip the implanted dark fantastic
Pay for your ticket, find your seat
Have a cup of tea, m'dear
The theaters filled, the souls are empty
We're all mad here
Follow me down this staircase, dear
Music is playing, house lights dimmed
Don't worry, your eyes will adjust to the dark
Hurry -- the show is about to begin
So now I'm grinning like the Cheshire
Canary that ate the cat
I sang my prose, I tipped my toes
And now I tap my hat
Pay for your ticket, find your seat
Have a cup of tea, m'dear
The theaters filled, the souls are empty
We're all mad here
© John Kennan fall 2013
Scheme | aBCB xada EFGH ddxd fixi EFGH xxxd hjxj EFGH fxxx aBCB EFGH x |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101010 0101101 11111111 011111 10101111 11111110 10100010 1010110 11110111 1011111 0100101110 1111 11111 1101101 1110101 110101111 11110111 11111110 1011000111 10101010 11110111 1011111 0100101110 1111 0101011 011010 11011110 0100001010 01011011 01001010 0111101001 1100101010 11110111 1011111 0100101110 1111 1011111 10110111 11011101101 1001101101 111101010 0101101 11111111 011111 11110111 1011111 0100101110 1111 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,562 |
Words | 300 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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"Step Right Up" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/100770/step-right-up>.
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