Analysis of The Volunteer
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Sez I: My Country calls? Well, let it call.
I grins perlitely and declines wiv thanks.
Go, let 'em plaster every blighted wall,
'Ere's ONE they don't stampede into the ranks.
Them politicians with their greasy ways;
Them empire-grabbers -- fight for 'em? No fear!
I've seen this mess a-comin' from the days
Of Algyserious and Aggydear:
I've felt me passion rise and swell,
But . . . wot the 'ell, Bill? Wot the 'ell?
Sez I: My Country? Mine? I likes their cheek.
Me mud-bespattered by the cars they drive,
Wot makes my measly thirty bob a week,
And sweats red blood to keep meself alive!
Fight for the right to slave that they may spend,
Them in their mansions, me 'ere in my slum?
No, let 'em fight wot's something to defend:
But me, I've nothin' -- let the Kaiser come.
And so I cusses 'ard and well,
But . . . wot the 'ell, Bill? Wot the 'ell?
Sez I: If they would do the decent thing,
And shield the missis and the little 'uns,
Why, even _I_ might shout "God save the King",
And face the chances of them 'ungry guns.
But we've got three, another on the way;
It's that wot makes me snarl and set me jor:
The wife and nippers, wot of 'em, I say,
If I gets knocked out in this blasted war?
Gets proper busted by a shell,
But . . . wot the 'ell, Bill? Wot the 'ell?
Ay, wot the 'ell's the use of all this talk?
To-day some boys in blue was passin' me,
And some of 'em they 'ad no legs to walk,
And some of 'em they 'ad no eyes to see.
And -- well, I couldn't look 'em in the face,
And so I'm goin', goin' to declare
I'm under forty-one and take me place
To face the music with the bunch out there.
A fool, you say! Maybe you're right.
I'll 'ave no peace unless I fight.
I've ceased to think; I only know
I've gotta go, Bill, gotta go.
Scheme | ababcdcdeE fgfghihieE jbjxkdkxeE lmlmnonoppqq |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 11100111 11110100101 1111010101 101011101 11001011111 111101101 1101 11110101 11011101 1111011111 11110111 1111010101 011111101 1101111111 1011011011 1111110101 1111010101 0111101 11011101 1111110101 010100101 1101111101 010101111 1111010101 1111110111 010111111 1111101101 11010101 11011101 1101011111 111101111 0111111111 0111111111 0111011001 01111101 1101010111 1101010111 01111011 11110111 11111101 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,845 |
Words | 339 |
Sentences | 37 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 12 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 314 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 87 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 123 Views
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"The Volunteer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32679/the-volunteer>.
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