Analysis of The Toy Band
Sir Henry Newbolt 1862 (Bilston, Staffordshire) – 1938 (Kensington, London)
A Song of the Great Retreat
Dreary lay the long road, dreary lay the town,
Lights out and never a glint o' moon:
Weary lay the stragglers, half a thousand down,
Sad sighed the weary big Dragoon.
"Oh! if I'd a drum here to make them take the road again,
Oh! if I'd a fife to wheedle, Come, boys, come!
You that mean to fight it out, wake and take your load again,
Fall in! Fall in! Follow the fife and drum!
"Hey, but here's a toy shop, here's a drum for me,
Penny whistles too to play the tune!
Half a thousand dead men soon shall hear and see
We're a band!" said the weary big Dragoon.
Rubadub! Rubadub! Wake and take the road again,
Wheedle-deedle-deedle-dee, Come, boys, come!
You that mean to fight it out, wake and take your load again,
Fall in! Fall in! Follow the fife and drum!"
Cheerly goes the dark road, cheerly goes the night,
Cheerly goes the blood to keep the beat;
Half a thousand dead men marching on to fight
With a little penny drum to lift their feet.
Rubadub! Rubadub! Wake, and take the raod again,
Wheedle-deedle-deedle-dee, Come, boys, come!
You that mean to fight it out, wake and take your load again,
Fall in! Fall in! Follow the fife and drum!
As long as there's an Englishman to ask a tale of me,
As long as I can tell the tale aright,
We'll not forget the penny whistle's wheedle-deedle-dee
And the big Dragoon a-beating down the night,
Rubadub! Rubadub! Wake and take the road again,
Wheedle-deedle-deedle-dee, Come, boys, come!
You that mean to fight it out, wake and take your load again,
Fall in! Fall in! Follow the fife, and drum!
Scheme | a bcbbdeDE fcfbDEDE gagadEDE fafgDEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0110101 10101110101 110100111 10101010101 1101011 11101111110101 1110111111 11111111011101 1010100101 11101110111 101011101 10101111101 101101011 111010101 1111111 11111111011101 1010100101 110111101 11011101 10101110111 10101011111 111010101 1111111 11111111011101 1010100101 11111100110111 111111011 11010101111 0011010101 111010101 1111111 11111111011101 1010100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,572 |
Words | 295 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 236 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 80 Views
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"The Toy Band" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35178/the-toy-band>.
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