Analysis of The Horses
Katharine Lee Bates 1859 (Falmouth) – 1929 (Wellesley)
'Thus far 80,000 horses have been shipped from the United States to the European belligerents.'
WHAT was our share in the sinning,
That we must share the doom?
Sweet was our life's beginning
In the spicy meadow-bloom,
With children's hands to pet us
And kindly tones to call.
To-day the red spurs fret us
Against the bayonet wall.
What had we done, our masters,
That you sold us into hell?
Our terrors and disasters
Have filled your pockets well.
You feast on our starvation;
Your laughter is our groan.
Have horses then no nation,
No country of their own?
What are we, we your horses,
So loyal where we serve,
Fashioned of noble forces
All sensitive with nerve?
Torn, agonized, we wallow
On the blood-bemired sod;
And still the shiploads follow.
Have horses then no God?
Scheme | ABCBCDEDEFGFGHIHIJKLKMNMN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110111100101100100100 111010010 111101 11101010 001011 1101111 010111 1101111 010101 11111010 1111011 10100010 111101 11110010 1101101 1101110 110111 1111110 110111 1011010 110011 110110 10111 010110 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 756 |
Words | 140 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 25 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 605 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 136 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 108 Views
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"The Horses" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24904/the-horses>.
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