Analysis of At The Beating Of A Drum

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



Fear ye not the stormy future, for the Battle Hymn is strong,
And the armies of Australia shall not march without a song;
The glorious words and music of Australia's song shall come
When her true hearts rush together at the beating of a drum.

We may not be there to hear it – 'twill be written in the night,
And Australia's foes shall fear it in the hour before the fight.
The glorious words and music from a lonely heart shall come
When our sons shall rush to danger at the beating of the drum.

He shall be unknown who writes it; he shall soon forgotten be,
But the song shall ring through ages as a song of liberty.
And I say the words and music of our battle hymn shall come,
When Australia wakes in anger at the beating of a drum.


Scheme AABB CCBB DDBB
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 111010101010111 001010101110101 010010101010111 101110101010101 111111111110001 0010111100100101 010010101010111 1101111101010101 111011111110101 101111101011100 0110101011010111 101010101010101
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 744
Words 146
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 192
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

44 sec read
36

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson 17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922 was an Australian writer and poet Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period more…

All Henry Lawson poems | Henry Lawson Books

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