Analysis of To The R.A.F

Alfred Noyes 1880 (Wolverhampton) – 1958 (Isle of Wight)



Never since English ships went out
To singe the beard of Spain,
Or English sea-dogs hunted death
Along the Spanish Main,
Never since Drake and Raleigh won
Our freedom of the seas,
Have sons of Britain dared and done
More valiantly than these.

Whether at midnight or at noon,
Through mist or open sky,
Eagles of freedom, all our hearts
Are up with you on high;
While Britain's mighty ghosts look down
From realms beyond the sun
And whisper, as their record pales,
Their breathless, deep, Well Done!


Scheme XAXABCBC XDXDXBXB
Poetic Form
Metre 10110111 110111 11011101 010101 10110101 1010101 11110101 110011 1011111 111101 101101101 111111 11010111 110101 01011011 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 490
Words 90
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 198
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
39

Alfred Noyes

Alfred Noyes was an English poet best known for his ballads The Highwayman 1906 and The Barrel Organ more…

All Alfred Noyes poems | Alfred Noyes Books

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