Analysis of Old Town Types No 20 - Mr Blades the Butcher
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Mr Blades, the butcher, was a large and beefy man,
'Best him at a cattle deal,' 'twas said, 'no other can.'
He ate a lot and drank a lot and had a lot to say,
And he jollied all the ladies in his large and airy way.
His family was numerous, and helped him in 'the trade,'
And townsfolk had a deal to say of money what they made.
But Mr Blades just went his way, and had his bit of fun;
And joked about his appetite, his girth, or else his 'run.'
His 'run' - a stretch of scrubland at the back of Connor's place -
Was a joke about the district; for it did not bear a trace
Of building or improvement. Yet some said Mr Blades
Had ambitions as a squatter, and a secret scorn for 'trades' . . .
Then the cattle duffers started in the district. Connors raved,
But folk said it was wonderful how Mr Blades behaved.
Tho' he lost a hundred stores one night. But soon began the rows
When people in the town began to lose domestic cows.
Police surprised the gang one night out in the mulga shades,
And took the lot, red-handed, with their leader - Mr Blades.
Of course, the trial stirred our town, as nothing's stirred it since;
But when bad Blades got 'three years hard,' he did not even wince.
His family still strove to carry on the butcher's shop,
For folk refused to pay them, and demanded with some heat:
'Think you can charge for selling us our milkers back as meat?'
When Mr Blades came out of goal, he did not seem ashamed;
A little thinner now, perhaps, but not the least bit tamed.
He told the folk he'd paid his debts, and so, by gum, should they.
So he summoned all his debtors, and his debtors had to pay.
'For our own thieved and slaughtered cows!' wailed these bewildered folk.
But Mr Blades, the butcher, had his last and richest joke,
And, on the day he left the town, people who saw him said
He looked the picture of content - so beefy, large, and red.
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEFFGGXX FFHHXII JJBBKKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101010101 1110101111101 11010101010111 01110100110101 11001100011001 0110111110111 11011111011111 0101110111111 110111101111 101010101111101 1101010111101 101010100010111 10101100010101 11111100110101 111010111110101 11000101110101 0101011110011 01011101110101 110101101110111 11111111111101 11001111010101 11011110010111 11111101101111 11011111111101 01010101110111 11011111011111 111011100110111 110110101110101 11010101110101 01011101101111 11010110110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,843 |
Words | 368 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 7, 8 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 353 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 91 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 58 Views
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"Old Town Types No 20 - Mr Blades the Butcher" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6479/old-town-types-no-20---mr-blades-the-butcher>.
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