Analysis of Ares God of War
Herbert Asquith 1881 – 1947
UNDER the stars the armies lie asleep:
Between the lines a quiet river flows
Through brakes of honeysuckle, and of rose,
And fields where poppies droop in languor deep:
The night as with a mantle now enfolds
The muffled forms upon the pasture low;
The scent of thyme comes down across the wolds,
And on the roses of the dark hedgerow
The summer starlight falls in flakes of silver snow.
Here, from the wooded haunt of nymph and fawn,
The hidden guns peer forth across the hills,
Their wheels are on the trampled daffodils,
And so they wait the coming of the dawn.
In dappled shadows, where the fairy weaves
On grasses tall his web of sparkling lace,
The gunners lie, their heads upon the sheaves:
White falls the moon on many a sunburnt face,
That ere the day shall feel another God's embrace.
Among the barrows of the sunken plain,
Where sleep the soldiers of another day,
On misty meadow and on upland gray,
On many eyes, that close but once again,
The peaceful earth her benediction throws,
The waves of healing music from the streams,
That though the willows softly comes, and goes ;
And now the face of all the country seems
A mirror consecrated to an army's dreams.
From far away is borne a woman's pray'r
To Ares, restless in his iron crown :
'Sleep, Ares, Sleep ! For, once the dice are thrown,
Empires to thee are leaves upon the air !
Ere all the homes go smoking to the skies,
And men are swept upon the battle-blast,
Ere all the tears are wept from women's eyes,
O Queen of Love, hold now the Lover fast,
And let him taste eternal anodyne at last !'
But with the dawn there comes a soldier's song:
'When all the guns have fired their last salute,
And the tongues of all the world are mute,
And life is dearer than to right a wrong,
Then may he weary of his burnng wine,
And rest forever in the arms divine
Of Aphrodite passionate and pale-
But Hark ! He comes ! Hail, Ares ! Lord of Thunder, Hail !
'He rides above the ocean and the snow,
His trail is on the curtain of the skies :
Brighter than dawn, his young eternal eyes
Shine in the eyes of Valour far below :
Now Mammon hides beneath his trembling halls,
While Honour marches singing into war ;
On strange forgotten hearts a radiance falls,
As ever nearer, burning from afar,
The sword of Ares gleams above the morning star.'
'The other gods are weaker ; thou alone
Dost break the king and bend the emperor's knee:
Lower than unto Christ they bow to thee,
Lord of the slave, and guardian of the free,
Steel-hearted Ares, shaker of the throne ;
Young god of battle, restless lover, hail !
For, once a man has seen thine eyes aflame,
And mounted on the horses of the gale,
Death is a nothing, life an empty name:
Arise and lead us ere our blood be tame,
O lord of thunder, Arcs of the crimson mail !'
Scheme | ABBABCBDC EFFEGHGHH XXDXBIBII DXJDKLKLL MNNMOOPP CKKCQDQDD JRRDJPSPSSP |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001010101 0101010101 111100011 011101011 011101011 0101010101 0111110101 010101011 01011011101 1101011101 0101110101 111101010 0111010101 01110101 1101111101 0101110101 1101110011 110111010101 0101010101 1101010101 110101101 1101111101 010100101 0111010101 110110101 0101110101 01010011101 11011101011 111001101 111110111 10011110101 1101110101 0111010101 1101111101 1111110101 0111010111 1101110101 11011101101 001110111 0111011101 111101111 0101000101 101010001 11111111101 1101010001 1111010101 1011110101 100111101 1110111001 111010011 11010101001 1101010101 01111010101 0101110101 11010101001 1011011111 11010100101 110110101 1111010101 1101111101 0101010101 1101011101 01011110111 11110110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,711 |
Words | 512 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 8, 9, 11 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 307 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 75 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 2:34 min read
- 93 Views
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"Ares God of War" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19023/ares-god-of-war>.
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