Analysis of The Leveller
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
Near Martinpuich that night of hell
Two men were struck by the same shell,
Together tumbling in one heap
Senseless and limp like slaughtered sheep.
One was a pale eighteen-year-old,
Blue-eyed and thin and not too bold,
Pressed for the war not ten years too soon,
The shame and pity of his platoon.
The other came from far-off lands
With bristling chin and whiskered hands,
He had known death and hell before
In Mexico and Ecuador.
Yet in his death this cut-throat wild
Groaned 'Mother! Mother!' like a child,
While the poor innocent in man's clothes
Died cursing God with brutal oaths.
Old Sergeant Smith, kindest of men,
Wrote out two copies and then
Of his accustomed funeral speech
To cheer the womanfolk of each:-
'He died a hero's death: and we
His comrades of 'A' Company
Deeply regret his death: we shall
All deeply miss so true a pal.'
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111111 11011011 010100011 10011101 11010111 11010111 110111111 010101101 01011111 11001011 11110101 010010 10111111 11010101 101100011 11011101 11011011 1111001 110101001 110111 11010101 1110100 10011111 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 849 |
Words | 155 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 110 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 176 Views
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