Analysis of Middle-Ages

Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)



I heard a clash, and a cry,
And a horseman fleeing the wood.
The moon hid in a cloud.
Deep in shadow I stood.
‘Ugly work!’ thought I,
Holding my breath.
‘Men must be cruel and proud,
‘Jousting for death’.

With gusty glimmering shone
The moon; and the wind blew colder.
A man went over the hill,
Bent to his horse’s shoulder.
‘Time for me to be gone’...
Darkly I fled.
Owls in the wood were shrill,
And the moon sank red.


Scheme ABCBADCD XEFEXGFG
Poetic Form
Metre 1101001 00101001 011001 10111 10111 1011 1111001 1011 1101001 01001110 0111001 1111010 111111 1011 100101 00111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 441
Words 85
Sentences 12
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 19
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 156
Words per stanza (avg) 41
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

25 sec read
138

Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC was an eminent English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. He later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy". more…

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