Analysis of The Attack at Dawn
Leon Gellert 1892 (Australia) – 1977
‘At every cost,’ they said, ‘it must be done.’
They told us in the early afternoon.
We sit and wait the coming of the sun
We sit in groups, — grey groups that watch the moon.
We stretch our legs and murmur half in sleep
And touch the tips of bayonets and yarn.
Our hands are cold. They strangely grope and creep,
Tugging at ends of straps. We wait the dawn!
Some men come stumbling past in single file.
And scrape the trench’s side and scatter sand.
They trip and curse and go. Perhaps we smile.
We wait the dawn! … The dawn is close at hand!
A gentle rustling runs along the line.
‘At every cost,’ they said, ‘it must be done.’
A hundred eyes are staring for the sign.
It’s coming! Look! … Our God’s own laughing sun!
Scheme | AbabcdcefgfghAha |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001111111 111001001 1101010101 1101111101 11101010101 010111001 10111110101 1011111101 11110010101 010110101 1101010111 1101011111 0101010101 11001111111 0101110101 11011011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 739 |
Words | 146 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 540 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 140 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 146 Views
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