Analysis of I Stood With the Dead
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
I Stood with the Dead, so forsaken and still:
When dawn was grey I stood with the Dead.
And my slow heart said, 'You must kill, you must kill:
'Soldier, soldier, morning is red'.
On the shapes of the slain in their crumpled disgrace
I stared for a while through the thin cold rain...
'O lad that I loved, there is rain on your face,
'And your eyes are blurred and sick like the plain.'
I stood with the Dead ... They were dead; they were dead;
My heart and my head beat a march of dismay:
And gusts of the wind came dulled by the guns.
'Fall in!' I shouted; 'Fall in for your pay!'
Scheme | ABAB CDCD BEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11101101001 111111101 01111111111 10101011 101101011001 1110110111 11111111111 0111101101 11101101101 11011101101 0110111101 1011010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 581 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 91 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"I Stood With the Dead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34891/i-stood-with-the-dead>.
Discuss this Siegfried Sassoon 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