Analysis of The Old Bush Road
Jenning Carmichael 1867 (Ballarat, Victoria) – 1904 (London)
DEAR old road, wheel-worn and broken,
Winding through the forest green,
Barred with shadows and with sunshine,
Misty vistas drawn between.
Grim, scarred bluegums ranged austerely,
Lifting blackened columns each
To the large, fair fields of azure,
Stretching ever out of reach.
See the hardy bracken growing
Round the fallen limbs of trees;
And the sharp reeds from the marshes,
Washed across the flooded leas;
And the olive rushes, leaning
All their pointed spears to cast
Slender shadows on the roadway,
While the faint, slow wind creeps past.
Ancient ruts grown round with grasses,
Soft old hollows filled with rain;
Rough, gnarled roots all twisting queerly,
Dark with many a weather-stain.
Lichens moist upon the fences,
Twiners close against the logs;
Yellow fungus in the thickets,
Vivid mosses in the bogs.
Dear old road, wheel-worn and broken,
What delights in thee I find!
Subtle charm and tender fancy,
Like a fragrance in the mind.
Thy old ways have set me dreaming,
And out-lived illusions rise,
And the soft leaves of the landscape
Open on my thoughtful eyes.
See the clump of wattles, standing
Dead and sapless on the rise;
When their boughs were full of beauty
Even to uncaring eyes
I was ever first to rifle
The soft branches of their store.
O the golden wealth of blossom
I shall gather there no more
Now we reach the dun morasses,
Where the red moss used to grow
Ruby-bright upon the water,
Floating on the weeds below.
Once the swan and wild-fowl glided
By those sedges, green and tall;
Here the booming bitterns nested;
Here we heard the curlews call
Climb this hill and we have rambled
To the last turn of the way;
Here is where the bell-birds tinkled
Fairy chimes for me all day.
These were bells that never wearied,
Swung by ringers on the wing;
List! the elfin strains are waking,
Memory sets the bells a-ring!
Dear old road, no wonder, surely,
That I love thee like a friend!
And I grieve to think how surely
All thy loveliness will end.
For thy simple charm is passing,
And the turmoil of the street
Soon will mar thy sylvan silence
With the tramp of careless feet.
And for this I look more fondly
On the sunny landscape, seen
From the road, wheel-worn and broken,
Winding through the forest green.
Something still remains of Nature,
Thoughts of other days to bring
For the staunch old trees are standing,
And I hear the wild birds sing!
Scheme | ABxbcdedfghgfiji hkckhxxx Alclfmxmfmcmxnxn xoeoxpxp qjqjxfff crcrfsxs cbaBefff |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111010 1010101 111011 1010101 111110 1010101 10111110 1010111 10101010 1010111 00111010 1010101 00101010 1110111 101101 1011111 10111110 1110111 1111101 11100101 10101010 110101 10100010 1010001 11111010 1010111 10101010 1010001 11111110 0110101 0011101 1011101 10111010 101101 11101110 1010101 11101110 0110111 10101110 1110111 11101010 1011111 10101010 1010101 10101110 111101 1010110 111011 11101110 1011101 11101110 1011111 10111010 1110101 10101110 10010101 11111010 1111101 01111110 11111 11101110 001101 11111010 1011101 01111110 101011 10111010 1010101 10101110 1110111 10111110 0110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,416 |
Words | 417 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8, 16, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 268 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:05 min read
- 47 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Old Bush Road" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21328/the-old-bush-road>.
Discuss this Jenning Carmichael poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In