Analysis of Cookmaid, Turnspit, And Ox.
John Gay 1685 – 1732
(To a Poor Man.)
Consider man in every sphere,
Then answer, - Is your lot severe?
Is God unjust? You would be fed:
I grant you have to toil for bread.
Your wants are plainly to you known,
So every mortal feels his own;
Nor would I dare to say I knew,
'Midst men, one happier man than you.
Adam in Paradise was lone;
With Eve was first transgression known;
And thus they fell, and thus disgrace
Entailed the curse on human race.
When Philip's son, by glory fired,
The empire of the world desired,
He wept to find the course he ran -
Despite of altars - was of man.
So avaricious hopes are checked,
And so proud man may lack respect;
And so ambition may be foiled
Of the reward for which it moiled.
The wealthy surfeit of their wealth,
Grudging the ploughman's strength and health.
The man, who weds the loveliest wife,
Weds, with her loveliness, much strife.
One wants an heir: another rails
Upon his heirs and the entails.
Another - but can'st thou discern
Envies and jealousies that burn?
Bid them avaunt! and say you have
Blessings unknown, which others crave.
"Where is the turnspit? Bob is gone,
And dinner must be drest by one:
Where is that cur - (and I am loth
To say that Betty swore an oath) -
The sirloin's spoiled: I'll give it him!" -
And Betty did look fierce and grim.
Bob, who saw mischief in her eye,
Avoided her - approaching nigh:
He feared the broomstick, too, with physics
As dread as Betty's metaphysics.
"What star did at my birth preside,
That I should be born-slave?" he sighed:
"To tread that spit, of horrid sound -
Inglorious task - to which no hound,
That ever I knew, was abased.
Whence is my line and lineage traced?
I would that I had been professed
A lap-dog, by some dame caressed:
I would I had been born a spaniel,
Sagacious nostrilled, and called Daniel:
I would I had been born a lion,
Although I scorn a feline scion:
I would I had been born of woman,
And free from servitude - as human;
My lot had then been, I discern, fit,
And not, as now, a wretched turnspit."
An ox replied, who heard this whine:
"Dare you at partial fate repine?
Behold me, now beneath the goad.
And now beneath the waggon's load;
Now ploughing the tenacious plain,
And housing now the yellow grain.
Yet I without a murmur bear
These various labours of the year.
Yet come it will, the day decreed
By fates, when I am doomed to bleed:
And you, by duties of your post,
Must turn the spit when I must roast;
And to repay your currish moans
Will have the pickings of my bones."
The turnspit answered: "Superficial
Has been my gaze on poor and rich, all.
What, do the mighty ones then bear
Their load of carking grief and care?
And man perhaps - ah, goodness knows! -
May have his share of pains and woes."
So saying, with contented look.
Bob wagged his tail, and followed cook.
Scheme | A BBCCDDEE DDFF GGAAHHXCIIJJKKLLXX XMXXNNOOPP QQRRCXSSTTMMMMXC XAUUVVWBXXYYZZ TXWW1 1 2 2 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011 010101001 11011101 11011111 11111111 11110111 110010111 11111111 111100111 1001011 11110101 01110101 01011101 110111010 0100101010 11110111 01110111 11111 01111101 01010111 10011111 01010111 1001101 0111011 110111 11110101 01110001 010111101 1010011 1110111 10011101 1101111 01011111 11110111 11110111 0111111 01011101 11110001 01000101 11011110 11110010 11111101 11111111 11111101 010011111 1101111 111101001 11111101 01111101 111111010 110110 111111010 1110110 111111110 01110110 111111011 01110101 11011111 1111011 01110101 0101011 1100101 01010101 11010101 11001101 11110101 11111111 01110111 11011111 0101111 11010111 0110010 111111011 11010111 1111101 01011101 11111101 11010101 11110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,735 |
Words | 539 |
Sentences | 34 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 4, 18, 10, 16, 14, 6, 2 |
Lines Amount | 79 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
Font size:
Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:42 min read
- 4 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Cookmaid, Turnspit, And Ox." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55906/cookmaid%2C-turnspit%2C-and-ox.>.
Discuss this John Gay poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In