Analysis of The Labour Agitator
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
LET the liar call me liar,
And the robber call me thief.
They can only fan the fire
That is born of my belief.
While I’m speaking, while I’m writing,
To reform the wrongful laws,
Well I know that I am fighting
For the grand old Cause.
See the army of the rebels
Marching on for evermore.
We are countless as the pebbles
That are strewn along the shore.
Agitating, agitating,
Till the Truth has sealed the fate
Of the wrongs that I am hating
With the grand old Hate.
Though no battle banner rustles
In a smoke that blurs the blue,
As when “heroes” poured from Brussels
To the field of Waterloo,
Though we do not hear the rattle
Of the rifles in the wars,
There is glory in the battle
For the grand old Cause.
See the army of the rebels
Marching on for evermore.
We are countless as the pebbles
That are strewn along the shore.
Agitating, agitating,
Till the Truth has sealed the fate
Of the wrongs that I am hating
With the grand old Hate.
No! I look not to the reaping
In the dynasty of men,
For I know that I’ll be sleeping
In a slandered grave e’er then.
Till his right to man is given
We’ll rebel, and we’ll rebel
As we would rebel in heaven
If it proved a hell.
See the army of the rebels
Marching on for evermore.
We are countless as the pebbles
That are strewn along the shore.
Agitating, agitating,
Till the Truth has sealed the fate
Of the wrongs that I am hating
With the grand old Hate.
No! There’s neither creed nor nation
Where the Labour flag’s unfurled,
For the Labour agitation
Breaks the barriers of the world.
Let the rulers fly in terror
With their scornful lips uncurled,
One by one the gods of error
From their thrones are hurled.
See the army of the rebels
Marching on for evermore.
We are countless as the pebbles
That are strewn along the shore.
Agitating, agitating,
Till the Truth has sealed the fate
Of the wrongs that I am hating
With the grand old Hate.
Scheme | ababcdcE FGFGCHCH difijxjE FGFGCHCH ckckljlx FGFGCHCH lmlmaham FGFGCHCH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101110 0010111 11101010 1111101 11101110 1010101 11111110 10111 10101010 101110 11101010 1110101 100100 1011101 10111110 10111 1110101 0011101 11101110 101110 11111010 1010001 11100010 10111 10101010 101110 11101010 1110101 100100 1011101 10111110 10111 11111010 0010011 11111110 0010111 11111110 1100110 11110010 11101 10101010 101110 11101010 1110101 100100 1011101 10111110 10111 11101110 101101 101010 10100101 10101010 111011 11101110 11111 10101010 101110 11101010 1110101 100100 1011101 10111110 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,846 |
Words | 360 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:48 min read
- 50 Views
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"The Labour Agitator" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18023/the-labour-agitator>.
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