Analysis of What The Heart Of The Poet Said To The 'Bulletin'

Joseph Furphy 1843 (Yering, Victoria) – 1912 (Claremont)



Tell me not in future numbers
That our thought becomes inane,
That our metre halts and lumbers,
When the Wattle blooms again.

Lies of great men all remind us
We can challenge and restrain
Such attempts to bluff and blind us,
When the Wattle blooms again.

Therefore take our gage of battle!
Freedom reasserts her reign:
We are not dumb, driven, cattle
When the Wattle blooms again.

Doubtless ANSWERS, weekly, daily,
Adding to his heap of slain,
Feels a jar, when Nature gaily
Bids the Wattle bloom again.

Nocent censor! time thou learnest
All this contract may contain —
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
But the Wattle blooms again.

Time may change this loyal journal
From religious to profane,
But a rhythmic law eternal
Makes the Wattle bloom again.

Trust no Flossie, howe'er pleasant,
Sweeps are treacherous, totes are vain;
Banks and scrip are evanescent,
But the Wattle blooms again.

Cultivate no fair ideal;
Own no country-seat in Spain;
All these things must go to Sheol,
Whil'st the Wattle blooms again.

Czar, and Pope, and Dei Gratia
Pass like phantoms of the brain
Never so our bright acacia,
For the Wattle blooms again.

Thus you see, austere and lonely,
Sailing o'er Life's solemn main,
One great fact is certain only —
That the Wattle blooms again.


Scheme abaC dbdC ebeC fbfc gbgC ebec gbgC xbec hbhc fbfc
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Metre 11101010 11010101 11010101 1010101 11111011 1110001 10111011 1010101 11101110 100101 11111010 1010101 10101010 1011111 10111010 1010101 110111 111101 111111 1010101 11111010 1010101 10101010 1010101 11101010 11100111 1011010 1010101 101101 1110101 1111111 1010101 101011 1110101 101101010 1010101 11101010 10101101 11111010 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,272
Words 219
Sentences 13
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:06 min read
35

Joseph Furphy

Joseph Furphy is widely regarded as the "Father of the Australian novel". He mostly wrote under the pseudonym Tom Collins and is best known for his novel Such Is Life (1903), regarded as an Australian classic. more…

All Joseph Furphy poems | Joseph Furphy Books

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