Analysis of As Through the Wild Green Hills of Wyre
Alfred Edward Housman 1859 – 1936
As through the wild green hills of Wyre
The train ran, changing sky and shire,
And far behind, a fading crest,
Low in the forsaken west
Sank the high-reared head of Clee,
My hand lay empty on my knee.
Aching on my knee it lay:
That morning half a shire away
So many an honest fellow's fist
Had well-nigh wrung it from the wrist.
Hand, said I, since now we part
From fields and men we know by heart,
For strangers' faces, strangers' lands,--
Hand, you have held true fellows' hands.
Be clean then; rot before you do
A thing they'll not believe of you.
You and I must keep from shame
In London streets the Shropshire name;
On banks of Thames they must not say
Severn breeds worse men than they;
And friends abroad must bear in mind
Friends at home they leave behind.
Oh, I shall be stiff and cold
When I forget you, hearts of gold;
The land where I shall mind you not
Is the land where all's forgot.
And if my foot returns no more
To Teme nor Corve nor Severn shore,
Luck, my lads, be with you still
By falling stream and standing hill,
By chiming tower and whispering tree,
Men that made a man of me.
About your work in town and farm
Still you'll keep my head from harm,
Still you'll help me, hands that gave
A grasp to friend me to the grave.
Scheme | AABBCDCEFFGGHHIIJJEEKKLLMMNNCCDDOOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 01110101 01010101 1000101 1011111 11110111 1011111 11010101 110110101 11111101 1111111 11011111 11010101 11111101 11110111 01110111 1011111 0101011 11111111 1011111 01011101 1111101 1111101 11011111 01111111 1011101 01110111 11111101 1111111 11010101 111001001 1110111 01110101 1111111 1111111 01111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,250 |
Words | 245 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 956 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 242 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 113 Views
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"As Through the Wild Green Hills of Wyre" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/868/as-through-the-wild-green-hills-of-wyre>.
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