Analysis of The Cliffs
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
They sing of the grandeur of cliffs inland,
But the cliffs of the ocean are truly grand;
And I long to wander and dream and doubt
Where the cliffs by the ocean run out and out.
To the northward far as the eye can reach
Are sandhill, boulder, and sandy beach;
But southward rises the track for me,
Where the cliffs by the ocean run out to sea.
Friends may be gone in the morning fair,
But the cliffs by the ocean are always there;
Lovers may leave when the wind is chill,
But the cliffs by the ocean are steadfast still.
They watch the sea and they ward the land,
And they warn the ships from the treacherous sand;
And I sadly think in the twilight hour
What I might have been had I known my power.
Where the smoke-cloud blurs and the white sails fill,
They point the ships to keep seaward still;
And I think—Ah, me!—and I think—Ah, me!
Of the wreck I’d saved had I kept to sea.
Oh! the cliffs are old and the cliffs are sad,
And they know me sane, while men deem me mad.
Oh! the cliffs are firm and the cliffs are strong,
And they know me right, while men deem me wrong.
And I sometimes think in the dawning gray,
I am old as they, I am old as they;
And I think, I think that in field and town
My spirit shall live till the cliffs come down.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF AAGG FFDD HHII JJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111001111 10110101101 0111100101 10110101101 1010110111 11100101 110100111 10110101111 111100101 1011010111 101110111 1011010111 110101101 01101101001 0110100110 11111111110 1011100111 110111101 0111101111 1011111111 1011100111 0111111111 1011100111 0111111111 0101100101 1111111111 0111110101 1101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,236 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 49 Views
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"The Cliffs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17974/the-cliffs>.
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