Analysis of The Immortals

Isaac Rosenberg 1890 (Bristol) – 1918 (Somme)



I killed them, but they would not die.
Yea! all the day and all the night
For them I could not rest or sleep,
Nor guard from them nor hide in flight.

Then in my agony I turned
And made my hands red in their gore.
In vain - for faster than I slew
They rose more cruel than before.

I killed and killed with slaughter mad;
I killed till all my strength was gone.
And still they rose to torture me,
For Devils only die in fun.

I used to think the Devil hid
In women’s smiles and wine’s carouse.
I called him Satan, Balzebub.
But now I call him, dirty louse.


Scheme XAXA XBXB XXXX XXXX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 11111111 11010101 11111111 11111101 10110011 01111011 01110111 11110101 11011101 11111111 01111101 11010101 11110101 0110101 111101 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 565
Words 115
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 106
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

34 sec read
134

Isaac Rosenberg

Isaac Rosenberg was an English poet of the First World War. more…

All Isaac Rosenberg poems | Isaac Rosenberg Books

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