Analysis of The Maori Pig Market
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
In distant New Zealand, whose tresses of gold
The billows are ceaselessly combing,
Away in a village all tranquil and old
I came on a market where porkers were sold --
A market for pigs in the gloaming.
And Maoris in plenty in picturesque rig
The lands of their forefathers roaming,
Were weighing their swine, whether little or big,
For purchasers paid by the weight of the pig --
The weight of the pig in the gloaming.
And one mighty chieftain, I grieve to relate,
The while that his porker was foaming
And squealing like fifty -- that Maori sedate,
He leant on the pig just to add to its weight --
He leant on the pig in the gloaming.
Alas! for the buyer, an Irishman stout --
O'Grady, I think, his cognomen --
Perceived all his doings, and, giving a shout,
With the butt of his whip laid him carefully out
By the side of his pig in the gloaming.
A terrible scrimmage did straightway begin,
And I thought it was time to be homing,
For Maoris and Irish were fighting like sin
'Midst war-cries of "Pakeha!" "Batherashin!"
As I fled from the spot in the gloaming
Scheme | ABAABCBCCB DBDDB EFEEB FBFFB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01011011011 010110010 01001011001 11101011001 010110010 010001001001 01111010 01011101011 11001101101 011010010 01101011101 011110110 01011011001 110101111111 1101010010 01101011001 0101111 01111001001 101111111001 1011110010 0100101101 0111111110 110001001011 11110101 1111010010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,069 |
Words | 202 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 206 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
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"The Maori Pig Market" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2663/the-maori-pig-market>.
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