Analysis of Morning Express
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
Along the wind-swept platform, pinched and white,
The travellers stand in pools of wintry light,
Offering themselves to morn’s long, slanting arrows.
The train’s due; porters trundle laden barrows.
The train steams in, volleying resplendent clouds
Of sun-blown vapour. Hither and about,
Scared people hurry, storming the doors in crowds.
The officials seem to waken with a shout,
Resolved to hoist and plunder; some to the vans
Leap; others rumble the milk in gleaming cans.
Boys, indolent-eyed, from baskets leaning back,
Question each face; a man with a hammer steals
Stooping from coach to coach; with clang and clack
Touches and tests, and listens to the wheels.
Guard sounds a warning whistle, points to the clock
With brandished flag, and on his folded flock
Claps the last door: the monster grunts: ‘Enough!’
Tightening his load of links with pant and puff.
Under the arch, then forth into blue day,
Glide the processional windows on their way,
And glimpse the stately folk who sit at ease
To view the world like kings taking the seas
in prosperous weather: drifting banners tell
Their progress to the counties; with them goes
The clamour of their journeying; while those
Who sped them stand to wave a last farewell.
Scheme | AABBCDCDEEFGFGHHIIJJKKLBBL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010111101 01001011101 100011111010 01110101010 011010101 111110001 11010100101 00101110101 01110101101 11010010101 11001110101 10110110101 1011111101 1001010101 11010101101 1101011101 1011010101 10011111101 1001110111 10010010111 0101011111 1101111001 01001010101 111010111 011110011 111111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,234 |
Words | 207 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 977 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 204 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 134 Views
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"Morning Express" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34908/morning-express>.
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