Analysis of The Bunyip
James Martin Devaney 1890 – 1976
Oh, came you up by the place of dread
(west red, and the moon low down)
where no winds blow and the birds have fled
and the gum stands dead and its arms gleam white,
and the tribe sneak by with a stealthy tread
in the ghostly light,in the ghostly light.
Brave Worraland went one grey nightfall
(A woi! woi!) where the grim rocks frown;
he came no more to the camps at all
(Skies dark, and the moon low down).
As we came up by the gully side
(Deep dusk, and the moon low down)
A Dingo whined and a Curlew cried
and the reeds replied as in hushed affright
where tall brae Worraland screamed and died
in the ghostly light, in the ghostly light.
For the Thing lurks there in the haunted place
(A woi! woi!) where the pool is brown,
where lost ones vanish and leave no trace
(Day dead, and the moon low down).
Of, go not by near the bunyip's lair
(Stars dim, and the moon low down)
or tip-toe past and beware, beware
the dark pool snare and be set for flight,
for things of terror have happened there
in the ghostly light, in the ghostly light
and in the gunyas we crouch and hark
(A woi! woi!) where the dead men drown
The monster's bellow across the dark
(Stars gone, and the moon low down).
Scheme | abacacdbdb ebeaeCfbfb gbgcgChbhb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111110111 1100111 111100111 0011101111 0011110101 001010101 111111 01110111 111110111 1100111 111110101 1100111 01010011 001011011 1111101 0010100101 1011100101 01110111 111100111 1100111 11111011 1100111 111100101 011101111 111101101 0010100101 00011101 01110111 01100101 1100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,167 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 303 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 77 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 53 Views
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"The Bunyip" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20270/the-bunyip>.
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