Analysis of The Distant Drum
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Republicans! the time is coming!
Listen to the distant drumming!
Hearken to the whispers humming
In the troubled atmosphere.
Ye are born to do the toiling;
On and on—and no recoiling!
To the fighting, to the foiling
Of the wrongs that wrong us here.
Let the Loyal laugh and jeer you;
Let them in derision cheer you.
Still the cowards show they fear you
By their deeds and all they say.
Let Britannia rule for ever
O’er the wave; but never, never!
Rule a land great oceans sever
Fifteen thousand miles away.
Stained by persecution’s fires
Thinned of homes and thick with spires,
They love the land that bred their sires,
Ye the Land that breeds your sons.
And your sons shall have the reaping,
And your sons shall have the keeping
Of your honour while you’re sleeping,
Freedom’s vanguard, in your graves.
Scheme | AAAX AAAX BBBC DDDC XEEX AAAX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010001110 10101010 1101010 001010 11111010 101011 10101010 1011111 10101011 11001011 10101111 1110111 101001110 10111010 10111010 0110101 1101010 1110111 11011111 1011111 01111010 01111010 1111110 101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 798 |
Words | 145 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 58 Views
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