Analysis of England In Egypt
FROM the dusty jaded sunlight of the careless Cairo streets,
Through the open bedroom window where the pale blue held the
palms,
There came a sound of music, thrilling cries and rattling beats,
That startled me from slumber with a shock of sweet alarms
For beneath this rainless heaven with this music in my ears
I was born, and all my boyhood with its joy was glorified,
And for me the ranging Red-coats hold a passion of bright tears,
And the glancing of the bayonets lights a hell of savage pride.
So I leaped and ran, and looked,
And I stood, and listened there,
Till I heard the fifes and drums,
Till I heard the fifes and drums,
The fifes and drums of England
Thrilling all the alien air! —
And 'England, England, England,'
I heard the wild fifes cry,
'We are here to rob for England,
And to throttle liberty!'
And 'England, England, England,'
I heard the fierce drums roar,
'We are tools for pious swindlers
And brute bullies evermore!'
And the silent Arabs crowded, half-defiant, half-dismayed.
And the jaunty fifers fifing flung their challenge to the breeze,
And the drummers kneed their drums up as the reckless drumsticks
played,
And the Tommies all came trooping, tripping, slouching at their ease.
Ah Christ, the love I bore them for their brave hearts and strong
Ah! Christ, the hate that smote me for their stupid dull conceits —
I know not which was greater, as I watched their conquering bands
In the dusty jaded sunlight of the sullen Cairo streets.
And my dream of love and hate
Surged, and broke, and gathered there,
As I heard the fifes and drums,
As I heard the fifes and drums,
The fifes and drums of England
Thrilling all the alien air! —
And 'Tommy, Tommy, Tommy,'
I heard the wild fifes cry,
'Will you never know the England
For which men, not fools, should die?'
And 'Tommy, Tommy, Tommy,'
I heard the fierce drums roar,
'Will you always be a cut-throat
And a slave for evermore?'
No, I shall never see it with these weary death-dim eyes,
The hour of Retribution, the hour of Fate's desire,
When before the outraged millions, as at last — at last they rise,
The rogues and thieves of England are as stubble to the fire!
When the gentlemen of England, eaten out with lust and sin,
When the shop-keepers of England, sick with godly greed as well,
Face the Red-coats and the Red-shirts, as the steel-ring closes in
And hurls them, howling madly, down the precipice of hell!
But O, I knew, that hour,
Standing sick and dying there,
As I heard the fifes and drums,
As I heard the fifes and drums,
The fifes and drums of England
Thrilling all the alien air!
And 'Tommy, Tommy, Tommy,'
I heard the wild fifes cry,
'It is time to cease your fooling;
It is time to do or die!'
And 'Johnnie, Johnnie, Johnnie,'
I heard the fierce drums roar,
'It is time to break your fetters
And be free for evermore!'
Scheme | abcadefgfhiJJKIKLkmKNonpqapqrasatiJJKIMLklMNunvwvwxyxywiJJKIMLzlmNon |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101011010101 1010110101110 1 11011101010101 11011101011101 10111101110011 1110111111110 011010111010111 001010101011101 1110101 0110101 1110101 1110101 0101110 10101001 0101010 110111 11111110 0110100 0101010 110111 11111010 011010 001010101010101 0010111110101 0010111110101 1 00111101010111 1101111111101 1101111111011 111111011111001 00101011010101 0111101 1010101 1110101 1110101 0101110 10101001 0101010 110111 11101010 1111111 0101010 110111 1111011 001110 11110111110111 010101001011010 10101101111111 010111011101010 101001101011101 101101101110111 101100111011100 01110101010011 1111110 1010101 1110101 1110101 0101110 10101001 0101010 110111 11111110 1111111 0101010 110111 11111110 011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,769 |
Words | 527 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 68 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 513 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:34 min read
- 34 Views
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"England In Egypt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14009/england-in-egypt>.
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