Analysis of Before We Were Married
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
BLACKSOIL PLAINS were grey soil, grey soil in the drought.
Fifteen years away, and five hundred miles out;
Swag and bag and billy carried all our care
Before we were married, and I wish that I were there.
River banks were grassy—grassy in the bends,
Running through the land where mateship never ends;
We belled the lazy fishing lines and droned the time away
Before we were married, and I wish it were to-day.
Working down the telegraph—winters’ gales and rains
Cross the tumbled scenery of Marlborough “plains”,
Beach and bluff and cook’s tent—and the cook was a “cow”
Before we were married, but I wish that it was now.
The rolling road to Melbourne, and grey-eyed girl in fur—
One arm to a stanchion—and one round her;
Seat abaft the skylight when the moon had set—
Before she was married, and I wish it wasn’t yet.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101111001 01101011011 101010101101 0110100111101 10101010001 1010111101 11010101010101 0110100111011 10101010101 101010011001 101011001101 0110101111111 0101110011101 111010110 110110111 011110011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 838 |
Words | 149 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 83 Views
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"Before We Were Married" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17745/before-we-were-married>.
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