Analysis of A Walgett Episode

Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)



The sun strikes down with a blinding glare;
The skies are blue and the plains are wide,
The saltbush plains that are burnt and bare
By Walgett out on the Barwon side --
The Barwon River that wanders down
In a leisurely manner by Walgett Town.
There came a stranger -- a "Cockatoo" --
The word means farmer, as all men know,
Who dwell in the land where the kangaroo
Barks loud at dawn, and the white-eyed crow
Uplifts his song on the stock-yard fence
As he watches the lambkins passing hence.

The sunburnt stranger was gaunt and brown,
But it soon appeared that he meant to flout
The iron law of the country town,
Which is -- that the stranger has got to shout:
"If he will not shout we must take him down,"
Remarked the yokels of Walgett Town.

They baited a trap with a crafty bait,
With a crafty bait, for they held discourse
Concerning a new chum who there of late
Had bought such a thoroughly lazy horse;
They would wager that no one could ride him down
The length of the city of Walgett Town.

The stranger was born on a horse's hide;
So he took the wagers, and made them good
With his hard-earned cash -- but his hopes they died,
For the horse was a clothes-horse, made of wood! --
'Twas a well-known horse that had taken down
Full many a stranger in Walgett Town.

The stranger smiled with a sickly smile --
'Tis a sickly smile that the loser grins --
And he said he had travelled for quite a while
A-trying to sell some marsupial skins.
"And I thought that perhaps, as you've took me down,
You would buy them from me, in Walgett Town!"

He said that his home was at Wingalee,
At Wingalee, where he had for sale
Some fifty skins and would guarantee
They were full-sized skins, with the ears and tail
Complete; and he sold them for money down
To a venturesome buyer in Walgett Town.

Then he smiled a smile as he pouched the pelf,
"I'm glad that I'm quit of them, win or lose:
You can fetch them in when it suits yourself,
And you'll find the skins -- on the kangaroos!"
Then he left -- and the silence settled down
Like a tangible thing upon Walgett Town.


Scheme ABABCCDEDEFF CGCGCC HIHICC BJBJCC KLKLCC KMXMCC NONOCC
Poetic Form
Metre 011110101 011100111 01111101 1111011 01101101 0010010111 11010010 011101111 110011001 111100111 11110111 111001101 01101101 1110111111 010110101 1110101111 1111111111 0101111 1100110101 1010111110 0100111111 1110100101 11101111111 011010111 0101110101 1110100111 1111111111 1011011111 1011111101 110010011 010110101 1010110101 01111101101 01011101001 01110111111 111111011 11111111 1111111 11010101 1011110101 0101111101 1010010011 1110111101 1111111111 1111011101 011011001 1110010101 1010010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,065
Words 398
Sentences 12
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 12, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 48
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 226
Words per stanza (avg) 56
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:00 min read
85

Andrew Barton Paterson

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem. more…

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