Analysis of The Wreck Of The `Derry Castle'
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Day of ending for beginnings!
Ocean hath another innings,
Ocean hath another score;
And the surges sing his winnings,
And the surges shout his winnings,
And the surges shriek his winnings,
All along the sullen shore.
Sing another dirge in wailing,
For another vessel sailing
With the shadow-ships at sea;
Shadow-ships for ever sinking --
Shadow-ships whose pumps are clinking,
And whose thirsty holds are drinking
Pledges to Eternity.
Pray for souls of ghastly, sodden
Corpses, floating round untrodden
Cliffs, where nought but sea-drift strays;
Souls of dead men, in whose faces
Of humanity no trace is --
Not a mark to show their races --
Floating round for days and days.
Ocean's salty tongues are licking
Round the faces of the drowned,
And a cruel blade seems sticking
Through my heart and turning round.
Heaven! shall HIS ghastly, sodden
Corpse float round for days and days?
Shall it dash 'neath cliffs untrodden,
Rocks where nought but sea-drift strays?
God in heaven! hide the floating,
Falling, rising, face from me;
God in heaven! stay the gloating,
Mocking singing of the sea!
Scheme | AABAAAB CCDCCCD EEFGXGF CHCH EFEF CDCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101010 10101010 1010101 00101110 00101110 00101110 1010101 10101010 10101010 101111 1111010 111111 01101110 1010100 11111010 101011 1111111 11110110 10100111 10111110 1011101 10101110 1010101 00101110 1110101 10111010 1111101 111111 1111111 10101010 1010111 10101010 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,159 |
Words | 183 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 51 Views
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"The Wreck Of The `Derry Castle'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18145/the-wreck-of-the-%60derry-castle%27>.
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