Analysis of Aboriginal Death Song
Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)
Feet of the flying, and fierce
Tops of the sharp-headed spear,
Hard by the thickets that pierce,
Lo! they are nimble and near.
Women are we, and the wives
Strong Arrawatta hath won;
Weary because of our lives,
Sick of the face of the sun.
Koola, our love and our light,
What have they done unto you?
Man of the star-reaching sight,
Dipped in the fire and the dew.
Black-headed snakes in the grass
Struck at the fleet-footed lord—
Still is his voice at the pass,
Soundless his step at the ford.
Far by the forested glen,
Starkly he lies in the rain;
Kings of the council of men
Shout for their leader in vain.
Yea, and the fish-river clear
Never shall blacken below
Spear and the shadow of spear,
Bow and the shadow of bow.
Hunter and climber of trees,
Now doth his tomahawk rust,
(Dread of the cunning wild bees),
Hidden in hillocks of dust.
We, who were followed and bound,
Dashed under foot by the foe,
Sit with our eyes to the ground,
Faint from the brand and the blow.
Dumb with the sorrow that kills,
Sorrow for brother and chief,
Terror of thundering hills,
Having no hope in our grief,
Seeing the fathers are far
Seeking the spoils of the dead
Left on the path of the war,
Matted and mangled and red.
Scheme | ABABXCXC DEDE FGFG HIHI BJBX KLKL MJMJ NONO XPXP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 1101001 1101101 1101011 1111001 1011001 1111 10011101 1101101 11010101 1111101 1101101 10010001 1101001 1101101 1111101 111101 1101001 1011001 1101011 1111001 1001101 1011001 100111 100111 1001011 111101 1101011 100111 1101001 1101101 11101101 1101001 1101011 1011001 1011001 10110101 1001011 1001101 1101101 101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,247 |
Words | 229 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 104 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 122 Views
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