Analysis of Billy Khaki
Edward George Dyson 1865 (Ballarat, Victoria) – 1931 (Saint Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria)
Marching somewhat out of order
when the band is cock-a-hoop,
There's a lilting kind of magic in the swagger
of the troop,
Swinging all aboard the steamer with her
nose toward the sea.
What is calling, Billy Khaki, that you're foot-
ing it so free?
Though his lines are none too level,
And he lacks a bit of style.
And he's swanking like the devil
Where the women wave and smile,
He will answer with a rifle
Trim and true from stock to bore,
Where the comrades crouch and stifle
In the reeking pit of war.
What is calling, Billy Khaki? There is
thunder down the sky,
And the merry magpie bugle splits the morn-
ing with its cry,
While your feet are beating rhythms up the
dusty hills and down,
And the drums are all a-talking in the hollow
of the town.
Billy Khaki, is't the splendor of the song the
kiddies sing,
Or the whipping of the flags aloft that sets
your heart a-swing?
Is't the cheering like a paean of the toss-
ing, teeming crowds,
Or the boom of distant cannon flatly bumping
on the clouds ?
What's calling, calling, Billy? 'Tis the rattle
far away
Of the cavalry at gallop and artillery in play;
'Tis the great gun's fierce concussion, and the
smell of seven hells
When the long ranks go to pieces in the
sneezing of the shells.
But your eyes are laughing, Billy, and a
ribald song you sing,
While the old men sit and tell us war it is a
ghastly thing,
When the swift machines are busy and the
grim, squat fortress nocks
At your bolts as vain as eggs of gulls that spatter on the rocks.
When the horses sweep upon you to complete
a sudden rout,
Or in fire and smoke and fury some brave
regiment goes out,
War is cruel, Bill, and ugly. But full well
you know the rest,
Yet your heart is for the battle, and your face
is to the west.
For if war is beastly, Billy, you can picture
something worse—
There's the wrecking of an empire, and its
broken people's curse;
There are nations reft of freedom, and of hope
and kindly mirth,
And the shadow of an evil black upon the
bitter earth.
So we know what's calling, Billy. 'Tis the
spirit of our race,
And its stir is in your pulses, and its light is
on your face
As you march with clipping boot-heels
through the piping, howling town
To uphold the land we live in, and to pull a
tyrant down.
Thou his lines are none too level,
And he's not a whale for style,
And he's swanking like the devil
When the women wave and smile
He will answer with a rifle,
Trim and true from stuck to bore,
When the comrades sit and stifle
In the smoking pit of war.
Scheme | ababacxc deDeDfdf ghxhijxj ikxkxlkl dmmicix ikikicx xnxnxopo aqxqxrir ipgpxjij deDeDfdf |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111110 1011101 10111100010 101 1010101010 10101 11101010111 1111 11111110 0110111 0111010 1010101 11101010 1011111 1011010 0010111 1110101011 10101 0010110101 1111 1111101010 10101 001110100010 101 1010110101010 101 10101010111 1101 110101010101 1101 101110101010 101 11010101010 101 101001100010001 1011101000 11101 1011111000 10101 1111101000 10111 101110111110 101 1010111000 11101 111111111110101 10101011101 0101 10100101011 10011 11101010111 1101 11111010011 1101 11111101110 101 10101110001 10101 11101110011 0101 00111101010 101 1111101010 101101 011101100111 111 11111011 1010101 101011100110 101 11111110 0110111 0111010 1010101 11101010 1011111 1011010 0010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,510 |
Words | 482 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 78 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 16, 2023
- 2:28 min read
- 84 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Billy Khaki" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9550/billy-khaki>.
Discuss this Edward George Dyson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In