Analysis of I Hear an Army Charging Upon the Land

James Joyce 1882 (Rathgar) – 1941 (Zürich)



I hear an army charging upon the land,
  And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knees:
Arrogant, in black armour, behind them stand,
  Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the charioteers.

They cry unto the night their battle-name:         
  I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling laughter.
They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
  Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.

They come shaking in triumph their long, green hair:
  They come out of the sea and run shouting by the shore.  
My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?
  My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?


Scheme ABAB CXCX DXDX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (33%)
Metre 11110100101 00101101010111 10001100111 010011100101 1110011101 11011110111010 1101110101 10100101101110 11100101111 1111010110101 11111101101 1111111111101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 664
Words 124
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 40
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 162
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

37 sec read
160

James Joyce

ames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century.  more…

All James Joyce poems | James Joyce Books

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