Analysis of The Unconquered Dead
John McCrae 1872 (Guelph) – 1918 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
". . . defeated, with great loss."
Not we the conquered! Not to us the blame
Of them that flee, of them that basely yield;
Nor ours the shout of victory, the fame
Of them that vanquish in a stricken field.
That day of battle in the dusty heat
We lay and heard the bullets swish and sing
Like scythes amid the over-ripened wheat,
And we the harvest of their garnering.
Some yielded, No, not we! Not we, we swear
By these our wounds; this trench upon the hill
Where all the shell-strewn earth is seamed and bare,
Was ours to keep; and lo! we have it still.
We might have yielded, even we, but death
Came for our helper; like a sudden flood
The crashing darkness fell; our painful breath
We drew with gasps amid the choking blood.
The roar fell faint and farther off, and soon
Sank to a foolish humming in our ears,
Like crickets in the long, hot afternoon
Among the wheat fields of the olden years.
Before our eyes a boundless wall of red
Shot through by sudden streaks of jagged pain!
Then a slow-gathering darkness overhead
And rest came on us like a quiet rain.
Not we the conquered! Not to us the shame,
Who hold our earthen ramparts, nor shall cease
To hold them ever; victors we, who came
In that fierce moment to our honoured peace.
Scheme | X ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL AMAM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010111 1101011101 111111111 11001110001 1111000101 1111000101 1101010101 1101010101 0101011100 1101111111 11101110101 1101111101 11011011111 1111010111 11101010101 01010110101 1111010101 0111010101 11010100101 110001101 0101110101 01101010111 111101111 10110010101 0111110101 1101011101 1110101111 1111010111 0111011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,234 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 120 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 25, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 78 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Unconquered Dead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23784/the-unconquered-dead>.
Discuss this John McCrae 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