Analysis of The Tragedy

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



Oh, I never felt so wretched, and things never looked so blue
Since the days I gulped the physic that my Granny used to brew;
For a friend in whom I trusted, entering my room last night,
Stole a bottleful of Heenzo from the desk whereon I write.

I am certain sure he did it (though he never would let on),
For all last week he had a cold and to-day his cough is gone;
Now I'm sick and sore and sorry, and I'm sad for friendship's sake
(It was better than the cough-cure that our Granny used to make).

Oh, he might have pinched my whisky, and he might have pinched my beer,
Or all the fame or money that I make while writing here –
Oh, he might have shook the blankets and I'd not have made a row,
If he'd only left my Heenzo till the morning, anyhow.

So I've lost my faith in Mateship, which was all I had to lose
Since I lost my faith in Russia and myself and got the blues;
And so trust turns to suspicion, and so friendship turns to hate,
Even Kaiser Bill would never pinch his Heenzo from a mate.


Scheme AABB XXCC XXXX DDEE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 111011100110111 10111011110111 101011101001111 10111101111 111011111110111 111111010111111 11101010011111 1110101111010111 111111100111111 11011101111101 111110100111101 1110111101010 11111011111111 11111010010101 011110100110111 10101110111101
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 1,010
Words 203
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 13
Letters per stanza (avg) 191
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
117

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson 17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922 was an Australian writer and poet Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period more…

All Henry Lawson poems | Henry Lawson Books

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