Analysis of From the Somme



In other days I sang of simple things,
Of summer dawn, and summer noon and night,
The dewy grass, the dew wet fairy rings,
The larks long golden flight.

Deep in the forest I made melody
While squirrels cracked their hazel nuts on high,
Or I would cross the wet sand to the sea
And sing to sea and sky.

When came the silvered silence of the night
I stole to casements over scented lawns,
And softly sang of love and love’s delight
To mute white marble fauns.

Oft in the tavern parlour I would sing
Of morning sun upon the mountain vine,
And, calling for a chorus, sweep the string
In praise of good red wine.

I played with all the toys the gods provide,
I sang my songs and made glad holiday
Mow I have cast my broken toys aside
And flung my lute away.

A singer once, I now am fain to weep,
Within my soul I feel strange music swell,
Vast chants of tragedy too deep - too deep
For my poor lips to tell.


Scheme ABAB CDCD BXBA EFEF GHGH IJIJ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 0101111101 1101010101 0101011101 011101 1001011100 1101110111 1111011101 011101 110110101 111110101 0101110101 111101 1001010111 1101010101 0101010101 011111 1111010101 111101110 1111110101 011101 0101111111 0111111101 1111001111 111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 888
Words 181
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 117
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
31

Leslie Coulson

Leslie Coulson was an English journalist and a poet of the First World War. more…

All Leslie Coulson poems | Leslie Coulson Books

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    »
    The opposite of poetry is _______.
    A Verse
    B Literalism
    C Prose
    D Somnolence