Analysis of When The `Army' Prays For Watty
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
When the kindly hours of darkness, save for light of moon and star,
Hide the picture on the signboard over Doughty's Horse Bazaar;
When the last rose-tint is fading on the distant mulga scrub,
Then the Army prays for Watty at the entrance of his pub.
Now, I often sit at Watty's when the night is very near,
With a head that's full of jingles and the fumes of bottled beer,
For I always have a fancy that, if I am over there
When the Army prays for Watty, I'm included in the prayer.
Watty lounges in his arm-chair, in its old accustomed place,
With a fatherly expression on his round and passive face;
And his arms are clasped before him in a calm, contented way,
And he nods his head and dozes when he hears the Army pray.
And I wonder does he ponder on the distant years and dim,
Or his chances over yonder, when the Army prays for him?
Has he not a fear connected with the warm place down below,
Where, according to good Christians, all the publicans should go?
But his features give no token of a feeling in his breast,
Save of peace that is unbroken and a conscience well at rest;
And we guzzle as we guzzled long before the Army came,
And the loafers wait for `shouters' and -- they get there just the same.
It would take a lot of praying -- lots of thumping on the drum --
To prepare our sinful, straying, erring souls for Kingdom Come;
But I love my fellow-sinners, and I hope, upon the whole,
That the Army gets a hearing when it prays for Watty's soul.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1010101101111101 1010101101101 10111110101011 10101111010111 11101111011101 101111100011101 11110101111101 10101111010001 11001110110101 101000101110101 011110110010101 011110101110101 011011101010101 111010101010111 111010101011101 1010111010111 111011101010011 111110100010111 01101111010101 00101110111101 111011101110101 1011010101011101 111110100110101 10101010111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,476 |
Words | 283 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 47 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 189 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 116 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"When The `Army' Prays For Watty" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18177/when-the-%60army%27-prays-for-watty>.
Discuss this Henry Lawson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In