Analysis of The Swagman
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
Kind friends, pray give attention
To this, my little song.
Some rum things I will mention,
And I'll not detain you long.
Up and down this country
I travel, don't you see,
I'm a swagman on the wallaby,
Oh! don't you pity me.
I'm a swagman on the wallaby,
Oh! don't you pity me.
At first I started shearing,
And I bought a pair of shears.
On my first sheep appearing,
Why, I cut off both its ears.
Then I nearly skinned the brute,
As clean as clean could he.
So I was kicked out of the shed,
Oh! don't you pity me, &c.
I started station loafing,
Short stages and took my ease;
So all day long till sundown
I'd camp beneath the trees.
Then I'd walk up to the station,
The manager to see.
"Boss, I'm hard up and I want a job,
Oh! don't you pity me," &c.
Says the overseer: "Go to the hut.
Says the overseer: "Go to the hut.
In the morning I'll tell you
If I've any work about
I can find for you to do."
But at breakfast I cuts off enough
For dinner, don't you see.
And then my name is Walker.
Oh! don't you pity me.
I'm a swagman, &c.
And now, my friends, I'll say good-bye,
For I must go and camp.
For if the Sergeant sees me
He may take me for a tramp;
But if there's any covey here
What's got a cheque, d'ye see,
I'll stop and help him smash it.
Oh! don't you pity me.
I'm a swagman on the wallaby,
Oh! don't you pity me.
Scheme | ababccCCCC dxdxxcxC bexeacxC FFgxgxcxCcxhchxcxCCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010 111101 1111110 0110111 101110 110111 10110100 111101 10110100 111101 1111010 0110111 1111010 1111111 1110101 111111 11111101 1111011 110101 1100111 111111 110101 11111010 010011 111101101 1111011 1010101101 1010101101 0010111 1110101 1111111 111011101 110111 0111110 111101 1011 01111111 111101 1101011 1111101 11110101 1101111 1101111 111101 10110100 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,284 |
Words | 275 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 8, 8, 20 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 240 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 68 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 120 Views
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"The Swagman" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2711/the-swagman>.
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