Analysis of The Ballad of the Black-Sheep
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
A black-sheep, from England, who worked on the run –
Riding where the stockmen ride –
He sat by the hut when the day’s work was done –
Lone huts where the black sheep bide.
“I’m tired of my life!” to his lone self said he,
“My girl and my country are both done with me!”
“I’m tired of my life!” to the wide scrubs said he –
“My girl and my country are long done with me!”
He took from a packet a portrait and curl –
Such things as the exiles keep –
And sadly he gazed at the face of the girl –
Lost girl of a lost black-sheep.
“I’ll go where there’s fighting and die there!” said he;
“My girl and my country are well rid of me.
“I’ll go where there’s fighting and die there,” said he;
“For heart-break and country that’s well rid of me!”
He rode with a thousand, he rode with the best –
Riding as bushmen ride –
Who’d ridden alone on the wastes of the West –
Wide wastes where the drought-fiends bide,
They rode as they’d ride to an up-country ball,
And the laugh of the black-sheep was lightest of all!
The road was a shambles, the hill was a hell –
Red rosed where the reckless ride –
And he with the foremost lay torn by a shell –
(Die hard where your father died!)
“the death of a rebel!” he laughed as he groaned –
“for the land that adoptee – the land that disowned!”
the death of a black-sheep! – they laugh as they groan –
for the lands that adopt and the lands that disown!
Scheme | ababcc cc dedeCc Cc fbfbgg hbhbii jj |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111011101 101011 11101101111 1110111 110111111111 11011011111 110111101111 11011011111 11101001001 111011 01011101101 1110111 11111001111 11011011111 11111001111 11101011111 11101011101 101101 11001101101 1110111 11111111101 001101111011 01101001101 1110101 0110111101 1111101 01101011111 101101101101 01101111111 101101001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,455 |
Words | 292 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 2, 6, 2, 6, 6, 2 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 146 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 116 Views
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"The Ballad of the Black-Sheep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17945/the-ballad-of-the-black-sheep>.
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