Analysis of As the Team's Head- Brass
Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)
As the team's head-brass flashed out on the turn
The lovers disappeared into the wood.
I sat among the boughs of the fallen elm
That strewed the angle of the fallow, and
Watched the plough narrowing a yellow square
Of charlock. Every time the horses turned
Instead of treading me down, the ploughman leaned
Upon the handles to say or ask a word,
About the weather, next about the war.
Scraping the share he faced towards the wood,
And screwed along the furrow till the brass flashed
Once more.
The blizzard felled the elm whose crest
I sat in, by a woodpecker's round hole,
The ploughman said. 'When will they take it away? '
'When the war's over.' So the talk began –
One minute and an interval of ten,
A minute more and the same interval.
'Have you been out? ' 'No.' 'And don't want to, perhaps? '
'If I could only come back again, I should.
I could spare an arm, I shouldn't want to lose
A leg. If I should lose my head, why, so,
I should want nothing more...Have many gone
From here? ' 'Yes.' 'Many lost? ' 'Yes, a good few.
Only two teams work on the farm this year.
One of my mates is dead. The second day
In France they killed him. It was back in March,
The very night of the blizzard, too. Now if
He had stayed here we should have moved the tree.'
'And I should not have sat here. Everything
Would have been different. For it would have been
Another world.' 'Ay, and a better, though
If we could see all all might seem good.' Then
The lovers came out of the wood again:
The horses started and for the last time
I watched the clods crumble and topple over
After the ploughshare and the stumbling team.
Scheme | XAXXXXXXBAXB XXCXDXXAXEXXXCXXXXXEDDXXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011111101 010010101 11010110101 110101010 1011000101 1110010101 0111011011 01010111101 0101010101 1001110101 01010101011 11 01010111 11010111 0111111101 1011010101 1100110011 0101001100 11111111101 11110110111 11111110111 0111111111 111101101 111111011 1011110111 1111110101 0111111101 01011010111 1111111101 011111110 11110011111 0101100101 1111111111 0101110101 0101001011 11011001010 10010001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,589 |
Words | 317 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 25 |
Lines Amount | 37 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 611 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 154 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 114 Views
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"As the Team's Head- Brass" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9830/as-the-team%27s-head--brass>.
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