Analysis of Don't Cheer
Don't cheer, damn you! Don't cheer!
Silence! Your bitterest tear
Is fulsomely sweet to-day. . . .
Down on your knees and pray.
See, they sing as they go,
Marching row upon row.
Who will be spared to return,
Sombre and starkly stern?
Chaps whom we knew - s0 strange,
Distant and dark with change;
Silent as those they slew,
Something in them dead too.
Who will return this way,
To sing as they sing to-day.
Send to the glut of the guns
Bravest and best of you sons.
Hurl a million to slaughter,
Blood flowing like Thames water;
Pile up pyramid high
Your dead to the anguished sky;
A monument down all time
Of hate and horror and crime.
Weep, rage, pity, curse, fear -
Anything, but . . . don't cheer.
Sow to the ploughing guns
Seed of your splendid sons.
Let your heroic slain
Richly manure the plain.
What will the harvest be?
Unborn of Unborn will see. . . .
Dark is the sky and drear. . . .
For the pity of God don't cheer.
Dark and dread is their way.
Who sing as they march to-day. . . .
Humble your hearts and pray.
Scheme | AXBB CCDDEEFFBB GGHHIIJJAA GGKKLL AABBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 1011001 11111 111101 111111 101011 1111101 10101 111111 100111 101111 100111 110111 1111111 1101101 1001111 1010110 1101110 111001 1110101 0100111 1101001 111011 10111 11011 111101 110101 100101 110101 1111111 110101 10101111 101111 1111111 101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 994 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 37 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 10, 10, 6, 5 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 152 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 132 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Don't Cheer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32083/don%27t-cheer>.
Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In