Analysis of To-Morrow
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
When you’re suffering hard for your sins, old man,
When you wake to trouble and sleep ill—
Oh, this is the clack of the middle class,
‘Win back the respect of the people!’
You are weak, you’re a fool, or a drunken brute
When you’re deep in trouble and sorrow;
But walk down the street in a decent suit,
And their hats will be off to-morrow! Old Chap—
And their hats will be off to-morrow!
They cant and they cackle—‘Redeem the Past!’
Who never had past worth redeeming:
Your soul seems dead, but you’ll find at last
That somewhere your soul lay dreaming.
You may stagger down-hill in a beer-stained coat,
You may loaf, you may cadge and borrow—
But walk down the street with a ten-pound note
And their hats will be off to-morrow! Old Man—
Yes, their hats will be off to-morrow!
But stick to it, man! for your old self’s sake,
Though to brood on the past is human;
Hold up for the sake of the mate who was true,
And the sake of the Other Woman.
And as for the rest, you may take off your hat
And banish all signs of sorrow;
You may take their hands, but in spite of that,
Can they win your respect to-morrow? Old Man—
Can they win your respect to-morrow?
Scheme | AXXXBCBXCDEDEFCFAC XGXGHCHAC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11100111111 111110011 1110110101 110011010 11110110101 111010010 1110100101 01111111011 011111110 1101100101 110111010 111111111 1111110 11101100111 11111101 1110110111 01111111011 111111110 1111111111 111101110 11101101111 001101010 01101111111 01011110 1111110111 11110111011 111101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,167 |
Words | 225 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 18, 9 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 439 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 111 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 108 Views
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"To-Morrow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18163/to-morrow>.
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