Analysis of Ukraine Rain (The Holodomor 1932-33)

Alan S Jeeves 1951 (Lancashire)



The Ukraine rain fell long and hard
From clouds above on high,
But what were shed
Were tears of red
To spill on fields awry.

As storms of rage passed o'er the land
A horseman through it rode.
A black horse day
Of wild dismay
As floods of red rain flowed.

Neath the yellow and the blue
The Ukraine rain poured on,
It steeped the ground
For miles around
And harvest yield was gone.

As people cried and people died,
The pain of rain aflame;
With nought to eat
The yellow wheat
Was plundered beyond shame

And all about the crippled souls
Wept through blood red eyes
As once again
The Ukraine rain
Screamed down from blood red skies.


Scheme XABBA XCDDC XXEEX XFGGF XHXXH
Poetic Form Tetractys  (56%)
Metre 00111101 110111 1101 0111 111101 111111001 010111 0111 1101 111111 1010001 001111 1101 1101 010111 11010101 011101 1111 0101 110011 01010101 11111 1101 0011 111111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 633
Words 132
Sentences 5
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 24

About this poem

A 2021 piece inspired by the book 'Red Famine' by Anne Applebaum. Her 2017 work was awarded the Lionel Gelber Prize and also the Duff Cooper Prize. The book itself is well worth reading if only to preserve the memory of the 4.5 million (Applebaum's estimate) souls who starved to death during the 'Holodomor'. Therefore, I writ this poem for them. As Duff Cooper himself famously said "Old men forget"

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Submitted by AlanSJeeves on June 21, 2021

Modified by AlanSJeeves on January 05, 2022

39 sec read
34

Alan S Jeeves

Alan S Jeeves is a Lancashire (England) born, Yorkshire based classical poet. more…

All Alan S Jeeves poems | Alan S Jeeves Books

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