Analysis of Battalion-Relief
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
‘FALL in! Now get a move on.’ (Curse the rain.)
We splash away along the straggling village,
Out to the flat rich country, green with June…
And sunset flares across wet crops and tillage,
Blazing with splendour-patches. (Harvest soon,
Up in the Line.) ‘Perhaps the War’ll be done
‘By Christmas-Day. Keep smiling then, old son.’
Here’s the Canal: it’s dusk; we cross the bridge.
‘Lead on there, by platoons.’ (The Line’s a-glare
With shell-fire through the poplars; distant rattle
Of rifles and machine-guns.) ‘Fritz is there!
‘Christ, ain’t it lively, Sergeant? Is’t a battle?’
More rain: the lightning blinks, and thunder rumbles.
‘There’s over-head artillery!’ some chap grumbles.
What’s all this mob at the cross-roads? Where are the guides?…
‘Lead on with number One.’ And off they go.
‘Three minute intervals.’ (Poor blundering files,
Sweating and blindly burdened; who’s to know
If death will catch them in those two dark miles?)
More rain. ‘Lead on, Head-quarters.’ (That’s the lot.)
‘Who’s that?… Oh, Sergeant-Major, don’t get shot!
‘And tell me, have we won this war or not?’
Scheme | XABABCC XDEDEFF XGHGHIII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011011101 1101010110 1101110111 011011101 101110101 1001010111 1101110111 1001111101 1111010101 11101011010 1100011111 11110101010 11010101010 110101001110 011110111101 1111010111 11010011001 1001010111 1111101111 1111110101 1111010111 0111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,162 |
Words | 194 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 8 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 269 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 57 Views
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"Battalion-Relief" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34852/battalion-relief>.
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