Analysis of Break o’ Day
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
You love me, you say, and I think you do,
But I know so many who don’t,
And how can I say I’ll be true to you
When I know very well that I won’t?
I have journeyed long and my goal is far,
I love, but I cannot bide,
For as sure as rises the morning star,
With the break of day I’ll ride.
I was doomed to ruin or doomed to mar
The home wherever I stay,
But I’ll think of you as the morning star
And they call me Break o’ Day.
They well might have named me the Fall o’ Night,
For drear is the track I mark,
But I love fair girls and I love the light,
For I and my tribe were dark.
You may love me dear, for a day and night,
You may cast your life aside;
But as sure as the morning star shines bright
With the break of day I’ll ride.
There was never a lover so proud and kind,
There was never a friend so true;
But the song of my life I have left behind
In the heart of a girl like you.
There was never so deep or cruel a wrong
In the land that is far away,
There was never so bitter a broken heart
That rode at the break of day.
God bless you, dear, with your red-gold hair
And your pitying eyes of grey—
Oh! my heart forbids that a star so fair
Should be marred by the Break o’ Day.
Live on, my girl, as the girl you are,
Be a good and a true man’s bride,
For as sure as beckons the evening star
With the fall o’ night I’ll ride.
I was born to ruin or born to mar
The home wherever I light.
Oh! I wish that you were the Evening Star
And that I were the Fall o’ Night.
Scheme | aaaxbcbCbdbd efefeceC gagaxdxd hdhdbcbc bebe |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 1111101111 11111011 0111111111 111101111 1110101111 1111101 1111100101 1011111 1111101111 0101011 1111110101 0111111 1111110111 1110111 1111101101 1101101 1111110101 1111101 1111010111 1011111 11100101101 11100111 10111111101 00110111 11101111001 00111101 11101100101 1110111 111111111 01100111 1110110111 11110111 111110111 10100111 1111100101 1011111 1111101111 0101011 1111100101 01100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,467 |
Words | 322 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 219 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:36 min read
- 42 Views
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"Break o’ Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17757/break-o%E2%80%99-day>.
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