Analysis of The Dreamers
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.
I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.
Scheme | ABABCBCB BDBDBD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011001111 101101111 00110110011 11110100010 1011110111 110101111 1011010101 111111101 1110111111 0001010111 1011111101 0111010101 110010101 0101010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 621 |
Words | 109 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 247 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 152 Views
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"The Dreamers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34942/the-dreamers>.
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