Analysis of Sospan Fach
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
(The Little Saucepan)
Four collier lads from Ebbw Vale
Took shelter from a shower of hail,
And there beneath a spreading tree
Attuned their mouths to harmony.
With smiling joy on every face
Two warbled tenor, two sang bass,
And while the leaves above them hissed with
Rough hail, they started 'Aberystwyth.'
Old Parry's hymn, triumphant, rich,
They changed through with even pitch,
Till at the end of their grand noise
I called: 'Give us the 'Sospan' boys!'
Who knows a tune so soft, so strong,
So pitiful as that 'Saucepan' song
For exiled hope, despaired desire
Of lost souls for their cottage fire?
Then low at first with gathering sound
Rose their four voices, smooth and round,
Till back went Time: once more I stood
With Fusiliers in Mametz Wood.
Fierce burned the sun, yet cheeks were pale,
For ice hail they had leaden hail;
In that fine forest, green and big,
There stayed unbroken not one twig.
They sang, they swore, they plunged in haste,
Stumbling and shouting through the waste;
The little 'Saucepan' flamed on high,
Emblem of hope and ease gone by.
Rough pit-boys from the coaly South,
They sang, even in the cannon's mouth;
Like Sunday's chapel, Monday's inn,
The death-trap sounded with their din.
The storm blows over, Sun comes out,
The choir breaks up with jest and shout,
With what relief I watch them part--
Another note would break my heart!
Scheme | X AABB XXCC DDEE FFGG HHII AAJJ KKLL MMNN OOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101 1101111 110101011 01010101 01111100 110111001 11010111 010101111 111101 1110101 1111101 11011111 1111011 11011111 11001111 11101010 111111010 111111001 11110101 11111111 11011 11011101 11111101 01110101 11010111 11111101 100010101 0101111 10110111 1111011 111000101 1110101 01110111 01110111 010111101 11011111 01011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,339 |
Words | 243 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 136 Views
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