Analysis of The Maranoa Drovers

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



The night is dark and stormy, and the sky is clouded o'er;
Our horses we will mount and ride away,
To watch the squatters' cattle through the darkness of the night,
And we'll keep them on the camp till break of day.

For we're going, going, going to Gunnedah so far,
And we'll soon be into sunny New South Wales;
We shall bid farewell to Queensland, with its swampy coolibah
Happy drovers from the sandy Maranoa.

When the fires are burning bright through the darkness of the night,
And the cattle camping quiet, well, I'm sure
That I wish for two o'clock when I call the other watch
 This is droving from the sandy Maranoa.

Our beds made on the ground, we are sleeping all so sound
When we're wakened by the distant thunder's roar,
And the lightning's vivid flash, followed by an awful crash
It's rough on drovers from the sandy Maranoa.
We are up at break of day, and we're all soon on the way,
For we always have to go ten miles or more;
It don't do to loaf about, or the squatter will come out
He's strict on drovers from the sandy Maranoa.

We shall soon be on the Moonie, and we'll cross the Barwon, too;
Then we'll be out upon the rolling plains once more;
We'll shout "Hurrah! for old Queensland, with its swampy coolibah,
And the cattle that come off the Maranoa."


Scheme XABA XXCD BXXD XEXDAEXD XECD
Poetic Form
Metre 011101000111010 10101110101 11010101010101 01111011111 111010101111 01110110111 11111111101 10110101 101011011010101 00101010111 11111011110101 11110101 10111011110111 111101011 0011011011101 111110101 11111110111101 1111111111 11111011010111 111110101 11111010011011 111101010111 110111111101 001011101
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,255
Words 241
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 8, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 41
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 196
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:16 min read
57

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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