Analysis of Wide Spaces
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
When my last long-beer has vanished and the truth is left unsaid;
When each sordid care is banished from my chair and from my bed,
And my common people sadly murmur: " 'Arry Lawson dead,"
When the man I was denounces all the things that I was not,
When the true souls stand like granite, while the souls of liars not –
When the quids I gave are counted, and the trays I cadged forgot;
Shall my spirit see the country that it wrote for once again?
Shall it see the old selections, and the common street and lane?
Shall it pass across the Black Soil and across the Red Soil Plain?
Shall it see the gaunt Bushwoman "slave until she's fit to drop",
For the distant trip to Sydney, all depending on the crop?
Or the twinkling legs of kiddies, running to the lollie-shop?
Shall my spirit see the failures battling west and fighting here?
Shall it see the darkened shanty, or the bar-room dull and drear?
Shall it whisper to the landlord to give Bummer Smith a beer?
Will they let me out of Heaven, or Valhalla, on my own –
Or the Social Halls of Hades (where I shall not be alone) –
Just to bring a breath of comfort to the hells that I have known?
Scheme | AAA BBB XCC DDD EEX FFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111100011101 111011101110111 01101010101101 101110101011111 101111101011101 101111100011101 111010101111101 111010100010101 111010110010111 1110111011111 101011101010101 101001110101011 1110101010010101 111010101011101 11101011110101 11111110110111 101011101111101 111011101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,156 |
Words | 223 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 49 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 148 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 76 Views
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"Wide Spaces" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18190/wide-spaces>.
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