Analysis of An Onset
James Clerk Maxwell 1831 (Edinburgh, Scotland) – 1879 (Cambridge, England)
Hallo ye, my fellows! arise and advance,
See the white-crested waves how they stamp and they dance!
High over the reef there in anger and might,
So wildly we dance to the bloody red fight.
Than gather, now gather, come gather ye all,
Each thing that hath legs and arms, come to our call;
Like reeds on the moor when the whirlwinds vie
Our lances and war-axes darken the sky;
Sharp, sharp, as the tooth of the sea-hound and shark,
They'll tear ye, they'll split ye, fly lance to the mark,
Home, home to the heart, and thou battle-axe grim,
Split, splintring and shivering through brain-pan and limb;
To-day we ask vengeance, to-day we ask blood,
We ask it; we're coming to make our words good;
The storm flinches not tho’ the woods choke its path,
We ask it; we're coming, beware of our wrath.
At home wives and children a hearth for us lay,
A savoury flesh-feast awaits us to-day;
Behind yonder mountains e’en now the smoke streams,
And the blaze of the bush fire crackles and gleams.
Long, long have we hungered and thirsted for you,
At home the dogs bark round the clean table too,
Loud shouting we'll eat you to-night every one,
Devour you clean to the white sinewy bone.
Rush, rush ye my fellows, rush on them like hail,
Soon, soon shall their roasting your nostrils regale,
The fire is flaring, the oven’s a glow,
Heave to now hew thro’ now, Holloa, Hollo.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGHIIJJKKLLMNOCPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111001001 101101111011 11001101001 11011101011 11011011011 111110111101 111011011 10101101001 11101101101 11111111101 11101011011 11010011101 11111011111 111110111011 0111101111 111110011101 11101001111 011101111 01101011011 001101101001 111110111 11011101101 110111111001 010111011001 11111011111 1111101101 01011001001 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,350 |
Words | 250 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,045 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 248 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 108 Views
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"An Onset" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20051/an-onset>.
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