Analysis of The Triumph of the People

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



LO, the gods of Vice and Mammon from their pinnacles are hurled
By the workers’ new religion, which is oldest in the world;
And the earth will feel her children treading firmly on the sod,
For the triumph of the People is the victory of God.

Not the victory of Churches, nor of Punishment and Wrath,
Not the triumph of the sceptic, throwing shadows on the path,
But of Christ and love and mercy o’er the Monarch and the Rod,
For the harvest of the Saviour is the aftermath of God.

O the Light of Revelation, since the reign of Care began,
Has been shining through the ages on the darkened eyes of man.
And the willing slave of Error—he is senseless as a clod—
For the simple Book of Nature is the written scroll of God.

Who will dare to say the sunlight on the pregnant Earth was shed
That the few might rest and fatten, while the many fight for bread?
Lo, there springs a common garden, where the foot of Greed hath trod,
For the victory of Labour was the prophecy of God.

Mother Earth, in coming seasons, shall fulfil her motherhood;
Then the children of her bosom never more shall want for food,
And oppression shall no longer grind the people iron-shod;
For the lifted hand of Labour is the upraised hand of God.


Scheme AABB CCBB DDAB EEBB XXBB
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Metre 101110111111 101010101110001 001110101010101 101010101010011 101001101110001 1010101101101 11101010101001 1010101101011 10110101011101 111010101010111 001011101110101 101011101010111 11111011010111 101110101010111 111010101011111 10100111010011 1010101011010 101010101011111 001011101010101 1010111101111
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 1,213
Words 230
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 191
Words per stanza (avg) 46
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:09 min read
83

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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