Analysis of The Mountain Squatter
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
Here in my mountain home,
On rugged hills and steep,
I sit and watch you come,
O Riverinia Sheep!
You come from the fertile plains
Where saltbush (sometimes) grows,
And flats that (when it rains)
Will blossom like the rose.
But when the summer sun
Gleams down like burnished brass,
You have to leave your run
And hustle off for grass.
'Tis then that -- forced to roam --
You come to where I keep,
Here in my mountain home,
A boarding-house for sheep.
Around me where I sit
The wary wombat goes --
A beast of little wit,
But what he knows, he knows.
The very same remark
Applies to me also;
I don't give out a spark,
But what I know, I know.
My brain perhaps would show
No convolutions deep,
But anyhow I know
The way to handle sheep.
These Riverina cracks,
They do not care to ride
The half-inch hanging tracks
Along the mountain side.
Their horses shake with fear
When loosened boulders go
With leaps, like startled deer,
Down to the gulfs below.
Their very dogs will shirk,
And drop their tails in fright
When asked to go and work
A mob that's out of sight.
My little collie pup
Works silently and wide;
You'll see her climbing up
Along the mountain side.
As silent as a fox
You'll see her come and go,
A shadow through the rocks
Where ash and messmate grow.
Then, lost to sight and sound
Behind some rugged steep,
She works her way around
And gathers up the sheep;
And, working wide and shy,
She holds them rounded up.
The cash ain't coined to buy
That little collie pup.
And so I draw a screw
For self and dog and keep
To boundary-ride for you,
O Riverina Sheep!
And, when the autumn rain
Has made the herbage grow,
You travel off again,
And glad -- no doubt -- to go.
But some are left behind
Around the mountain's spread,
For those we cannot find
We put them down as dead.
So, when we say adieu
And close the boarding job,
I always find a few
Fresh ear-marks in my mob.
And, what with those I sell,
And what with those I keep,
You pay me pretty well,
O Riverina Sheep!
It's up to me to shout
Before we say good-bye --
"Here's to a howlin' drought
All west of Gundagai!"
Scheme | Abxbcdcd efef abAb gdgd hihi ibib jkjK lili mnmn okoK pipi qbqb roro sbsB xixi tutu svsv wbwB xrxh |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (29%) |
Metre | 101101 110101 110111 111 1110101 11011 011111 110101 110101 111101 111111 010111 111111 111111 101101 010111 011111 01011 011101 111111 010101 011110 111101 111111 110111 111 11011 011101 111 111111 011101 010101 110111 110101 111101 110101 110111 011101 111101 011111 110101 110001 110101 010101 110101 110101 01101 11011 111101 011101 110101 010101 010101 111101 011111 110101 011101 110101 1100111 111 010101 11011 110101 011111 111101 010101 111101 111111 111101 010101 11101 111011 011111 011111 111101 111 111111 011111 11011 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,083 |
Words | 403 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 19 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 80 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 84 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:03 min read
- 55 Views
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"The Mountain Squatter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2667/the-mountain-squatter>.
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