Analysis of The Road
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
The road is thronged with women; soldiers pass
And halt, but never see them; yet they’re here—
A patient crowd along the sodden grass,
Silent, worn out with waiting, sick with fear.
The road goes crawling up a long hillside,
All ruts and stones and sludge, and the emptied dregs
Of battle thrown in heaps. Here where they died
Are stretched big-bellied horses with stiff legs,
And dead men, bloody-fingered from the fight,
Stare up at caverned darkness winking white.
You in the bomb-scorched kilt, poor sprawling Jock,
You tottered here and fell, and stumbled on,
Half dazed for want of sleep. No dream would mock
Your reeling brain with comforts lost and gone.
You did not feel her arms about your knees,
Her blind caress, her lips upon your head.
Too tired for thoughts of home and love and ease,
The road would serve you well enough for bed.
Scheme | AXAXBCBCDD EXEXFGFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111110101 0111011111 0101010101 1011110111 011101011 11010100101 1101011111 1111010111 0111010101 111110101 1001111101 111010101 1111111111 1101110101 1111010111 0101010111 11011110101 0111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 854 |
Words | 152 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 8 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 333 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 75 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 53 Views
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