Analysis of The War After The War
John Le Gay Brereton 1871 (Sydney) – 1933
I.
Yonder, with eyes that tears, not distance, dim,
With ears the wide world's thickness cannot daunt,
We see tumultuous miseries that haunt
The night's dead watches, hear the battle hymn
Of ruin shrieking through the music grim,
Where the red spectre straddles, long and gaunt,
Spitting across the seas his hideous taunt
At those who nurse at home the unwounded limb.
What shall we say, who, drawing indolent breath,
Mark the quick pant of those who, full of hate,
Drive home the steel or loose the shrieking shell,
Heroes or Huns, who smite the grin of death
And laugh or curse beneath the blows of fate,
Swept madly to the thudding heart of hell?
II.
O peace, be still! Let no drear whirlwind sweep
Our souls about the vault, that groans or yells
In travail of the brood of Fear, and swells
Stupendous with new monsters of the deep.
This is no day to wring the hands and weep,
No hour for hopeless tolling and clash of bells.
Faith is no faith if god or demon quells
One hope or drugs it to uneasy sleep.
What you have shed man's blood for, fight for still
In world-wide conflict, joining hand with hand;
Hate fear and hatred and the seed thereof,
And, since you have struck for Freedom, do her will
And smash the barriers parting land from land,
Unfaltering armies of immortal love.
Scheme | ABCCBBCCB DEFDEF AGHHGGHHG IJKIJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1 1011111101 1101110101 1110010011 0111010101 1101010101 1011010101 10010111001 111111011 11111101001 1011111111 1101110101 1011110111 0111010111 110101111 1 111111111 10101011111 0011011101 0101110101 1111110101 110110100111 1111111101 1111110101 1111111111 0111010111 110100011 01111110101 01010010111 11010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,265 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 6, 9, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 253 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 69 Views
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"The War After The War" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23713/the-war-after-the-war>.
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