Analysis of The Dumb Soldier
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)
When the grass was closely mown,
Walking on the lawn alone,
In the turf a hole I found
And hid a soldier underground.
Spring and daisies came apace;
Grasses hid my hiding-place;
Grasses run like a green sea
O'er the lawn up to my knee.
Under grass alone he lies,
Looking up with leaden eyes,
Scarlet coat and pointed gun,
To the stars and to the sun.
When the grass is ripe like grain,
When the scythe is stoned again,
When the lawn is shaven clear,
Then my hole shall reappear.
I shall find him, never fear,
I shall find my grenadier;
But, for all that's gone and come,
I shall find my soldier dumb.
He has lived, a little thing,
In the grassy woods of spring;
Done, if he could tell me true,
Just as I should like to do.
He has seen the starry hours
And the springing of the flowers;
And the fairy things that pass
In the forests of the grass.
In the silence he has heard
Talking bee and ladybird,
And the butterfly has flown
O'er him as he lay alone.
Not a word will he disclose,
Not a word of all he knows.
I must lay him on the shelf,
And make up the tale myself.
Scheme | AABB CCXA DDAA AAEE EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKAA LLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 1011101 1010101 0010111 0101010 1010101 1011101 1011011 10011111 1010111 1011101 1010101 1010101 1011111 1011101 1011101 111101 1111101 11111 1111101 1111101 1110101 0010111 1111111 1111111 11101010 00101010 0010111 0010101 0010111 101010 001011 10111101 1011101 1011111 1111101 011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,049 |
Words | 214 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 87 Views
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