Analysis of When the Light is as Darkness

Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant 1864 (Bridgwater, Somerset) – 1902 (Pretoria)



The morning-tide is fair and bright,
   With golden sun up-springing;
The cedars glowed in the new-born light,
   And the bell-bird's note was ringing;
While diamonds dropped by dusky Night,
   Were yet to the gidyas clinging.

The morning waned - the sun rose high
   O'erhead, until 'twas seeming
But a dazzling disc, and the fiery sky
   Like an opal sea was gleaming;
And languorous flowers - of morn gone by,
   And coming eve - fell dreaming.

And now the moon above does creep
   To laugh at red Sol sinking;
While wakening from their sunlit sleep,
   A few wan stars are blinking,
And thirsty, drooping flowers deep
   Of evening dews are drinking.

The birds will soon their carols cease,
   And crows are homeward hieing;
The gloaming deepens, stars increase,
   The weary day is dying -
Its requiem, murmurous of peace,
   The vesper winds are, sighing.

This night is near!  Are you waiting friend,
   That Night? - we're drawing nigh it -
When we to the Restful Land shall wend,
   And leave life's feverish riot -
When the gods to each tired soul shall send
   Eternal, dreamless quiet.


Scheme ABABAB CBCBCB DBDBDB EBEBEB FXFGFG
Poetic Form Etheree  (27%)
Metre 01011101 1101110 010100111 00111110 1101111 0110110 01010111 101110 101001001001 11101110 01101111 0101110 01010111 1111110 111111 0111110 01010101 1101110 01111101 011101 01010101 0101110 1100111 0101110 111111101 1111011 111010111 01110010 1011110111 010110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,079
Words 187
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 164
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

57 sec read
82

Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant

Harry "Breaker" Harbord Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902) was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, bush poet and military officer, who was convicted and executed for murder during the Second Anglo-Boer War. While serving with the Bushveldt Carbineers during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Lieutenant Morant was arrested and court-martialed for war crimes—one of the first such prosecutions in British military history. According to military prosecutors, Morant retaliated for the death in combat of his commanding officer with a series of revenge killings against both Boer POWs and many civilian residents of the Northern Transvaal. more…

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