Analysis of The Vanguard
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
While the crippled cruisers stagger where the blind horizon dips,
And the ocean ooze is rising round the sunken battle-ships,
While the battered wrecks, unnoticed, with their mangled crews drift past—
Let me fire one gun for Russia, though that gun should be the last.
’Tis a struggle of the Ages, and the White Man’s star is dim,
There is little jubilation, for the game has got too grim;
But though Russia’s hope seems shattered, and the Russian star seems set,
It may mean the Dawn for Russia—and my hope’s in IVAN yet!
Let the Jingo in his blindness cant and cackle as he will;
But across the path from Asia run the Russian trenches still!
And the sahib in his rickshaw may loll back and smoke at ease,
While the haggard, ragged heroes man the battered batteries.
’Tis the first round of the struggle of the East against the West,
Of the fearful war of races—for the White Man could not rest.
Hold them, IVAN! staggering bravely underneath your gloomy sky;
Hold them, IVAN! we shall want you pretty badly by-and-bye!
Fighting for the Indian empire, when the British pay their debt;
Never Britain watched for BLUCHER as he’ll watch for IVAN yet!
It means all to young Australia—it means life or death to us,
For the vanguard of the White Man is the vanguard of the Russ!
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEFF GGHH DDII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101010101010101 001011101010101 101010101110111 1110111101111101 101010100011111 11100101011111 11111100010111 111011100110101 10101101010111 101011101010101 0010111110111 101010101010100 101110101010101 101011101011111 111010010011101 111011111010101 10101001001010111 10101111111101 111110101111111 1011011101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,286 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 50 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 250 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 128 Views
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