Analysis of And What Have You To Say?
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
I MIND the days when ladies fair
Helped on my overcoat,
And tucked the silken handkerchief
About my precious throat;
They used to see the poet’s soul
In every song I wrote.
They pleaded hard, but I had work
To do, and could not stay
I used to work the whole night through,
And what have you to say?
’Twas clever, handsome woman then,
And I their rising star;
I could not see they worshipped me,
Because I saw too far.
(’Tis well for one or two, I think,
That things are as they are.)
(I used to write for writing’s sake,
I used to write till day,
I loved my prose and poetry,
And what have you to say?)
I guess if one should meet me now
That she would gasp to think,
She ever knew a thing like me,
As down the street I slink,
And trembling cadge from some old pal
The tray-bit for a drink.
I used to drink with gentlemen
To pass an hour away:
I drink long beers in common bars,
And what have you to say?
But often, in the darkest night
(And ’tis a wondrous thing)—
When others see the devils dance,
I hear the angels sing,
And round the drunkard’s lonely bed
Heaven’s nurses whispering.
I wrote for Truth and Right alone,
I wrote from night till day;
I’ll find a drunken pauper grave,
And what have you to say?
Good night!
Good day!
My noble friends,
And what have you to say?
Scheme | xaxaxa bcxC xdedfd xceC xfebxf xcxC ghxhxh xcxCgcxC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 11110 01010100 011101 11110101 0100111 11011111 110111 11110111 011111 11010101 011101 11111101 011111 11111111 111111 11111101 111111 11110100 011111 11111111 111111 11010111 110111 010011111 011101 11111100 1111001 11110101 011111 11000101 010101 11010101 110101 01010101 1010100 11110101 111111 11010101 011111 11 11 1101 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,259 |
Words | 256 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 8 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 121 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 108 Views
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"And What Have You To Say?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17727/and-what-have-you-to-say%3F>.
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