Analysis of The Heart of the Swag
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Oh, the track through the scrub groweth ever more dreary,
And lower and lower his grey head doth bow;
For the swagman is old and the swagman is weary—
He’s been tramping for over a century now.
He tramps in a worn-out old “side spring” and “blucher,”
His hat is a ruin, his coat is a rag,
And he carries forever, far into the future,
The key of his life in the core of his swag.
There are old-fashioned portraits of girls who are grannies,
There are tresses of dark hair whose owner’s are grey;
There are faded old letters from Marys and Annies,
And Toms, Dicks, and Harrys, dead many a day.
There are broken-heart secrets and bitter-heart reasons—
They are sewn in a canvas or calico bag,
And wrapped up in oilskin through dark rainy seasons,
And he carries them safe in the core of his swag.
There are letters that should have been burnt in the past time,
For he reads them alone, and a devil it brings;
There were farewells that should have been said for the last time,
For, forever and ever the love for her springs.
But he keeps them all precious, and keeps them in order,
And no matter to man how his footsteps may drag,
There’s a friend who will find, when he crosses the Border,
That the Heart of the Man’s in the Heart of his swag.
Scheme | ABABACDCEFEFGCGC HIHIDCDC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101110110 01001011111 10111001110 111011001001 11001111101 11101011101 0110010101010 01111001111 1111010111110 111011111011 11101101101 0110111001 1110110010110 11100101101 01101111010 011011001111 1110111110011 111101001011 101111111011 101001001101 1111110011010 01101111111 1011111110010 101101001111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,247 |
Words | 239 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 480 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 118 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 51 Views
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"The Heart of the Swag" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18013/the-heart-of-the-swag>.
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