Analysis of As it was in the Beginning
As it was in the beginning, so we’ll find it in the end,
For a lover, or a brother, or a sweetheart, or a friend;
As it was in the beginning, so we’ll find it by-and-bye,
When weak women hug their babies, and strong men go out to die.
As ’tis written now, or spoken, so we’ll find it yet in deed—
For their State, or for their Country, for their Honour or their Creed;
For the love of Right, or hatred for the Everlasting Lie,
When the women think of some things, and strong men go out to die.
As it used to be in past times, in the future so it must,
We shall find him stretching forward with his face down in the dust,
All his wounds in front, and hidden—blood to earth, and back to sky,
When pale women pray in private, and strong men go out to die.
Rebels all we are, and brothers—rebels to the laws we make—
Rich or poor, or fat or lean man, fighting for another’s sake;
It is all as God decreed it—we shall find it by-and-bye,
When our girls, disguised in boys’ clothes, go to die where strong men die.
Scheme | AABBCCBB DDBB EEBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111000101111001 10101010101101 111000101111101 111011100111111 111011101111101 11111110111111 10111110100101 101011110111111 111110110010111 111110101111001 111010101110111 111010100111111 101110101010111 1111111110111 111110111111101 1101010111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,026 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 47 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 253 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 69 Views
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"As it was in the Beginning" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17734/as-it-was-in-the-beginning>.
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