Analysis of Digging 2

Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)



To-day I think
Only with scents, - scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot's seed,
And the square mustard field;

Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;

The smoke's smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.


Scheme XAXA XBAB XCXC XDXD
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1111 10111111 0100111 001101 111 10110111 111011 11100 0111 10110101 01010100 011101 1101 11110011 101011001 111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 468
Words 85
Sentences 3
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 92
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 06, 2023

26 sec read
348

Edward Thomas

Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh poet and essayist. more…

All Edward Thomas poems | Edward Thomas Books

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