Analysis of A Voice From The West

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



What is the voice I hear
On the wind of the Western Sea?
Sentinel, listen from out Cape Clear
And say what the voice may be.
``'Tis a proud, free people calling loud to a people proud and free.

``And it says to them, `Kinsmen, hail!
We severed have been too long.
Now let us have done with a worn-out tale-
The tale of an ancient Wrong;
And our friendship last long as Love doth last,
and be stronger than Death is strong!'''

Answer them, ``Sons of the self-same race,
And blood of the self-same clan,
Let us speak with each other face to face,
And answer man to man;
And loyally love and trust each other as none but free men can.

``So fling them out to the breeze,
Shamrock, Thistle, and Rose!
And the Star-Spangled Banner unfurl with these,
A message to friends and foes,
Wherever the sails of peace are seen and wherever the war-wind blows.

``A message to bond and thrall to wake:
For wherever we come, we twain,
The throne of the tyrant shall rock and quake,
And his menace be void and vain;
For you are lords of a strong, young land, and we are lords of the main.''

Yes, this is the voice on the bluff March gale:
``We severed have been too long.
But now we have done with a worn-out tale,
The tale of an ancient Wrong;
And our friendship shall last long as Love doth last, and be stronger than Death is strong!''


Scheme xaxaa bCbCxc dedee fgfgg hihii bCbCc
Poetic Form
Metre 110111 10110101 100101111 0110111 1011101011010101 0111111 1101111 1111110111 0111101 01010111111 01101111 101110111 0110111 1111110111 010111 0100101110111111 1111101 11001 00110100111 0101101 01001111100100111 010110111 10101111 0110101101 01101101 1111101110111101 1110110111 1101111 1111110111 0111101 01010111111101101111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,297
Words 258
Sentences 13
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 169
Words per stanza (avg) 42
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:16 min read
34

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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