Analysis of South Wind

Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)



Where have you been, South Wind, this May-day morning,—
With larks aloft, or skimming with the swallow,
Or with blackbirds in a green, sun-glinted thicket?

Oh, I heard you like a tyrant in the valley;
Your ruffian haste shook the young, blossoming orchards;
You clapped rude hands, hallooing round the chimney,
And white your pennons streamed along the river.

You have robbed the bee, South Wind, in your adventure,
Blustering with gentle flowers; but I forgave you
When you stole to me shyly with scent of hawthorn.


Scheme XXX AXAB BXX
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111110 11011101010 11100011110 111110100010 11110110010 111111010 0111101010 111011101010 1001101011011 11111101111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 525
Words 90
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 3
Lines Amount 10
Letters per line (avg) 41
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 136
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

27 sec read
141

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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