Analysis of A Parlourmaid
Lesbia Harford 1891 (Brighton) – 1927 (Australia)
'I want a parlourmaid.'
'Well, let me see
If you were God, what kind of maid she'd be.'
'She would be tall,
She would be fair,
She would have slender limbs,
A delicate air;
And yet for all her beauty
She would walk
Among my guests unseen
And through their talk
Her voice would be the sweet voice of a bird,
Not listened to, though heard.'
'And now I know the girl you have in mind
Tell me her duties, if you'd be so kind.'
'Why, yes!
She must know names of wines
And never taste them—
Must handle fragile cups
And never break them—
Must fill my rooms with flowers
And never wear them—
Must serve my daughter's secrets
And not share them.'
'Madam, you are no God, that's plain to see.
I'll just repeat what you have said to me.
You say your maid must look in Helen fashion
Golden and white
And yet her loveliness inspire no passion,
Give no delight.
Your intimate goods of home must owe their beauty
To this girl's care
But she'll not overstep her path of duty
Nor seek to share
Through loving or enjoying or possessing
The least of them.
Why, she's not human, by your own confessing,
And you condemn
Your rational self in every word you're speaking!
Please understand
You'll find the hollow maiden you are seeking
In fairyland.'
Scheme | ABBCDEDAFGFAAAAHIJKJLJMJBBNANAADADOJOJOAOA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101 1111 1101111111 1111 1111 111101 01001 0111010 111 011101 0111 0111011101 110111 0111011101 1101011111 11 111111 01011 110101 01011 1111110 01011 1111010 0111 1011111111 1101111111 11111101010 1001 010101110 1101 110011111110 1111 1111001110 1111 11010101010 0111 11110111010 0101 1100101001110 101 11010101110 010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,242 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 42 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 946 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 230 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 92 Views
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"A Parlourmaid" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25499/a-parlourmaid>.
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