Analysis of The War Song of Dinas Vawr
Thomas Love Peacock 1785 (Weymouth, Dorset) – 1866
The mountain sheep are sweeter,
But the valley sheep are fatter;
We therefore deemed it meeter
To carry off the latter.
We made an expedition;
We met a host, and quelled it;
We forced a strong position,
And killed the men who held it.
On Dyfed's richest valley,
Where herds of kine were browsing,
We made a mighty sally,
To furnish our carousing.
Fierce warriors rushed to meet us;
We met them, and o'erthrew them:
They struggled hard to beat us;
But we conquered them, and slew them.
As we drove our prize at leisure,
The king marched forth to catch us:
His rage surpassed all measure,
But his people could not match us.
He fled to his hall-pillars;
And, ere our force we led off,
Some sacked his house and cellars,
While others cut his head off.
We there, in strife bewild'ring,
Spilt blood enough to swim in:
We orphaned many children,
And widowed many women.
The eagles and the ravens
We glutted with our foemen;
The heroes and the cravens,
The spearmen and the bowmen.
We brought away from battle,
And much their land bemoaned them,
Two thousand head of cattle,
And the head of him who owned them:
Ednyfed, king of Dyfed,
His head was borne before us;
His wine and beasts supplied our feasts,
And his overthrow, our chorus.
Scheme | AAAABCBC DEDEFGFG AFAFHIHI EXBBJBJB KGKGCFXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 0101110 10101110 11111 1101010 111010 1101011 1101010 0101111 111010 1111010 1101010 11010010 11001111 111011 1101111 11101011 111101110 0111111 1101110 11101111 1111110 01101111 1111010 1101111 11011 1101110 1101010 0101010 0100010 1101101 0100010 010010 1101110 0111011 1101110 00111111 1111 1111011 110101101 01101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,197 |
Words | 225 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 191 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 131 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The War Song of Dinas Vawr" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36769/the-war-song-of-dinas-vawr>.
Discuss this Thomas Love Peacock poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In