Analysis of Waterloo Day
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
THIS is the day of our glory; this is our day to weep.
Under her dusty laurels England stirs in her sleep;
Dreams of her days of honour, terrible days that are dead,
Days of the making of story, days when the sword was red,
When all her fate and her future hung on the naked blade,
When by the sword of her children her place in the world was made,
When Honour sounded the trumpet and Valour leapt to obey,
And Heroes bought us the Empire that statesmen would sell to-day.
England, wanton and weary, sunk in a slothful ease,
Has slain in her wars her thousands, but her tens of thousands in peace:
And the cowards grieve for her glory; their glory is in their shame;
They are glad of the moth in her banners, and the rust on her shining name.
Oh, if the gods would send us a balm for our sick, sad years,
Let them send us a sight of the scarlet, and the sound of the guns in our ears!
For valour and faith and honour--these grow where the red flower grows,
And the leaves for the Nation's healing must spring from the blood of her foes.
Scheme | AABB CCDD XXEE FFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 1101110101110111 1001010101001 1101111001111 11010110110111 11010010110101 110110100100111 1110010011101 0101101001101111 101001010011 1100101010111001 0010110101101011 111101001000110101 110111101110111 11110110100011010101 11010111101101 00110101011101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,044 |
Words | 205 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 50 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 201 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 124 Views
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"Waterloo Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9055/waterloo-day>.
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