Analysis of The Tracks That Lie By India
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Now this is not a dismal song, like some I’ve sung of late,
When I’ve been brooding all day long about my muddled fate;
For though I’ve had a rocky time I’ll never quite forget,
And though I never was so deep in trouble and in debt,
And though I never was so poor nor in a fix so tight—
The tracks that run by India are shining in my sight.
The roads that run by India, and all the ports of call—
I’m going back to London first to raise the wherewithal.
I’ll call at Suez and Port Said as I am going past
(I was too worried to take notes when I was that way last),
At Naples and at Genoa, and, if I get the chance,
Who knows but I might run across the pleasant land of France.
The track that runs by India goes up the hot Red Sea—
The other side of Africa is far too dull for me.
(I fear that I have missed a chance I’ll never get again
To see the land of chivalry and bide awhile in Spain.)
I’ll graft a year in London, and if fortune smiles on me
I’ll take the track to India by France and Italy.
’Tis sweet to court some foreign girl with eyes of lustrous glow,
Who does not know my language and whose language I don’t know;
To loll on gently-rolling decks beneath the softening skies,
While she sits knitting opposite, and make love with our eyes—
The glance that says far more than words, the old half-mystic smile—
The track that runs by India will wait for me awhile.
The tracks that run by India to China and Japan,
The tracks where all the rovers go—the tracks that call a Man!
I’m wearied of the formal lands of parson and of priest,
Of dollars and of fashions, and I’m drifting towards the East;
I’m tired of cant and cackle, and of sordid jobbery—
The mystery of the East hath cast its glamour over me.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFF GGXXGG HHIIJJ KKLLXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101111111 11110111011101 11110101110101 01110111010001 01110111100111 01111100110011 01111100010111 1101110111010 11110011111101 11110111111111 11001100011101 11111101010111 01111100110111 01011100111111 11111101110101 11011100010101 11010100110111 11011100110100 11111101111101 11111100110111 111101010101001 111101000111101 01111111011101 01111100111101 01111100110001 01110101011101 11010101110011 110011001100101 1101101001101 010010111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,739 |
Words | 344 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 329 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 85 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 86 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Tracks That Lie By India" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18121/the-tracks-that-lie-by-india>.
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