Analysis of Till All the Bad Things Came Untrue
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
BY blacksoil plains burned grey with drought
Where desert shrubs and grasses grow,
Along the Land of Furthest Out
That only Overlanders know.
I dreamed I camped on river grass
In bends where river timber grew—
I dreamed, I dreamed the days to pass
Till all the bad things came untrue.
I dreamed that I was young again,
But was not young as I had been,
My path through life seemed fair and plain,
My sight and hearing clear and keen.
No longer bent nor lined and grey,
I met and loved and worshipped you—
I dreamed, I dreamed the days away
Till all the sad things came untrue.
I dreamed a home of freestone stood
With toned tiled roofs as roofs should be,
By cliff and fall and beach and wood
With wide verandahs to the sea.
I dreamed a hale gudeman and wife,
With sons and daughters well-to-do,
Lived there the glorious old home life
And all the mad things were untrue.
From blacksoil plains burned bare with drought
Where years are sown that never grow—
From dead grey creeks of dreams and drought,
Through black-ridged wastes of weirdest woe,
I tramped and camped with fearsome fare
Until the sea-scape came in view,
And lo! the home lay smiling there
And all the bad things were untrue.
Scheme | ABABCDCD XXXXEDED FGFGHDHD ABABIDID |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111 11010101 01011101 11011 11111101 01110101 11110111 11011101 11111101 11111111 11111101 11010101 11011101 11010101 11110101 11011101 1101111 11111111 11010101 111101 1101101 11010111 110100111 01011001 1111111 11111101 11111101 11111101 11011101 01011101 01011101 01011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,172 |
Words | 221 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 93 Views
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"Till All the Bad Things Came Untrue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18149/till-all-the-bad-things-came-untrue>.
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