Analysis of In the Street
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Where the needle-woman toils
Through the night with hand and brain,
Till the sickly daylight shudders like a spectre at the pain –
Till her eyes seem to crawl,
And her brain seems to creep –
And her limbs are all a-tremble for the want of rest and sleep!
It is there the fire-brand blazes in my blood; and it is there
That I see the crimson banner of the Children of Despair!
That I feel the soul and music in a rebel's battle song,
And the greatest love for justice and the hottest hate for wrong!
When the foremost in his greed
Presses heavy on the last –
In the brutal spirit rising from the grave-yard of the past –
Where the poor are trodden down
And the rich are deaf and blind!
It is there I feel the greatest love and pity for mankind:
There – where heart to heart is saying, though the tongue and lip be still:
We've been through it all and know it! brother, we've been through the mill!
There the spirits of my brothers rise the higher for defeat,
And the drums of revolution roll for ever in the street!
Christ is coming once again,
And his day is drawing near;
He is leading on the thousands of the army of the rear!
We shall know the second advent
By the lower skies aflame
With the signals of his coming, for he comes not as he came –
Not humble, meek, and lowly, as he came in days of old,
But with hatred, retribution for the worshippers of gold!
And the roll of battle music and the steady tramp of feet
Sound for ever in the thunder and the rattle of the street!
Scheme | XAAXB BCCDD XEEXF FGGHH XIIXJ JKKHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 1011101 10101101010101 101111 001111 001110101011101 1110101100110111 111010101010101 111010100010101 001011100010111 101011 1010101 001010101011101 1011101 0011101 111110101010111 111111101010111 111110111011101 101011101010101 00110101110001 1110101 0111101 111010101010101 1110101 1010101 101011101111111 11010101110111 11100101010011 001110100010111 111000100010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,500 |
Words | 292 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 192 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 120 Views
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"In the Street" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17826/in-the-street>.
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