poetry there was naughty boy by john keats analysis

There was a naughty boy,
    And a naughty boy was he,
He ran away to Scotland
    The people for to see-

            There he found
            That the ground
            Was as hard,
            That a yard
            Was as long,
            That a song
            Was as merry,
            That a cherry
            Was as red-
            That lead
            Was as weighty
            That fourscore
            Was as eighty,
            That a door
            Was as wooden
            As in England-

So he stood in his shoes
     And he wondered,
     He wondered,
He stood in his shoes
     And he wondered.

The Analysis

          We can find tons of simile here and that is exactly what we need to figure out the reasons behind it. The idea is about making comparison between one thing and another, in this case, comparing the places.

           The differences between England and Scotland, that after all the speaker of this poem trying to observe such objects as ground and yard and song and cherry and lead and fourscore and door, eventually leads the speaker to one ultimate conclusion that there were never difference between Scotland and England so that what the speaker’s assumption was never true. 

          Now the question is why the particular objects to be compared should be the ground and song and cherry and lead and fourscore and door. Is there anything behind the choosing of those specific yet very common instead. Are they actually just get picked randomly by the poet or is there any possibility that they have hidden meaning behind their existence in this poem.

          The ground was as hard may represent that the life in Scotland is just as hard as in the London. The yard that just as long may refers to the chance we can find in one day to do something good or something bad. The song was as marry might means that the happiness. The cherry was as red could define the unchanging truth.

          The ground, we can step on the ground. The song, we can sing the song. The cherry, we can get to know the taste. The fourscore, we can calculate the number.. The door can symbolize the new hope and new place t be entered. So that even how bad and dark the past is, we still have chance to change to the better.