Analysis of To The Irish Delegates

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



Farewell! The gold we send shall be a token
Of that which in our hearts is growing strong;
You asked our sympathy, and we have spoken—
“They wrong us who our brothers rob and wrong.”

Tell Ireland—tell her in her desolation,
That hearts within the South for her have bled—
That scalding tears of helpless indignation
By eyes that read her cruel wrongs are shed.

Helpless no more! but strong to act hereafter,
For silenced arc the “loyal subjects’” sneers—
Too long have Ireland’s wrongs been words of laughter—
Arch-mockery to tickle British ears.

Tell Ireland that they lie of us—they slander,
Who say we care not for another’s wrong;
For we are not the men to kneel and pander
To tyranny, because the tyrant’s strong.

Take back across the waves Australia’s message,
And say our hearts are big, and strong our hands,
Tell Ireland that for her is surest presage
Of fate as fair as of these Southern lands.


Scheme ABAB ACAC DEDE DBDB XFXF
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1011111010 11101011101 111010001110 11111010101 11001000010 1101011011 1101110010 1111010111 10111111010 1101010101 11110111110 1100110101 110011111110 11111111 11110111010 1100010101 110101110 011011101101 110011011010 1111111101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 923
Words 163
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 142
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
85

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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