Analysis of The Outside Track
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
There were ten of us there on the moonlit quay,
And one on the for’ard hatch;
No straighter mate to his mates than he
Had ever said: ‘Len’s a match!’
'’Twill be long, old man, ere our glasses clink,
’Twill be long ere we grip your hand!'—
And we dragged him ashore for a final drink
Till the whole wide world seemed grand.
For they marry and go as the world rolls back,
They marry and vanish and die;
But their spirit shall live on the Outside Track
As long as the years go by.
The port-lights glowed in the morning mist
That rolled from the waters green;
And over the railing we grasped his fist
As the dark tide came between.
We cheered the captain and cheered the crew,
And our mate, times out of mind;
We cheered the land he was going to
And the land he had left behind.
We roared Lang Syne as a last farewell,
But my heart seemed out of joint;
I well remember the hush that fell
When the steamer had passed the point
We drifted home through the public bars,
We were ten times less by one
Who sailed out under the morning stars,
And under the rising sun.
And one by one, and two by two,
They have sailed from the wharf since then;
I have said good-bye to the last I knew,
The last of the careless men.
And I can’t but think that the times we had
Were the best times after all,
As I turn aside with a lonely glass
And drink to the bar-room wall.
But I’ll try my luck for a cheque Out Back,
Then a last good-bye to the bush;
For my heart’s away on the Outside Track,
On the track of the steerage push.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEF GHGHIJIJ KLKLMNMN IOIOXPXP EQEQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 1011111011 011011 110111111 1101101 11111110101 11111111 01110110101 1011111 11100110111 11001001 11101110111 1110111 011100101 1110101 0100101111 1011101 110100101 01011111 110111101 00111101 11111011 1111111 110100111 10101101 110110101 1011111 111100101 0100101 01110111 11110111 1111110111 0110101 0111110111 0011101 1110110101 0110111 1111110111 10111101 1110110111 1011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,497 |
Words | 304 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:31 min read
- 89 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Outside Track" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18060/the-outside-track>.
Discuss this Henry Lawson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In