Analysis of The Free-Selector's Daughter

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)




I met her on the Lachlan Side --
 A darling girl I thought her,
And ere I left I swore I'd win
 The free-selector's daughter.

I milked her father's cows a month,
 I brought the wood and water,
I mended all the broken fence,
 Before I won the daughter.

I listened to her father's yarns,
 I did just what I `oughter',
And what you'll have to do to win
 A free-selector's daughter.

I broke my pipe and burnt my twist,
 And washed my mouth with water;
I had a shave before I kissed
 The free-selector's daughter.

Then, rising in the frosty morn,
 I brought the cows for Mary,
And when I'd milked a bucketful
 I took it to the dairy.

I poured the milk into the dish
 While Mary held the strainer,
I summoned heart to speak my wish,
 And, oh! her blush grew plainer.

I told her I must leave the place,
 I said that I would miss her;
At first she turned away her face,
 And then she let me kiss her.

I put the bucket on the ground,
 And in my arms I caught her:
I'd give the world to hold again
 That free-selector's daughter!


Scheme xabA xaxa xaba cacA xdxd eaea fafa xaxa
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11010101 0101110 01111111 01110 11010101 1101010 11010101 0111010 11010101 111111 01111111 01110 11110111 0111110 11010111 01110 11000101 1101110 011101 1111010 11010101 110101 11011111 0101110 11011101 1111110 11110101 0111110 11010101 0011110 11011101 11110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,034
Words 200
Sentences 10
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

1:03 min read
128

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson 17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922 was an Australian writer and poet Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period more…

All Henry Lawson poems | Henry Lawson Books

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