Analysis of The Caffer Commando
Thomas Pringle 1789 (Blakelaw) – 1834
Hark! -- heard ye the signals of triumph afar?
'Tis our Caffer Commando returning from war:
The voice of their laughter comes loud on the wind,
Nor heed they the curses that follow behind.
For who cares for him, the poor Kosa, that wails
Where the smoke rises dim from yon desolate vales --
That wails for his little ones killed in the fray,
And his herds by the Colonist carried away?
Or who cares for him that once pastured this spot,
Where his tribe is extinct and their story forgot?
As many another, ere twenty years pass,
Will only be known by their bones in the grass!
And the sons of the Keisi, the Kei, the Gareep,
With the Gunja and Ghona in silence shall sleep:
For England hath spoken in her tyrannous mood,
And the edict is writing in African blood!
Dark Katta is howling: the eager jackall,
As the lengthening shadows more drearily fall,
Shrieks forth his hymn to the hornèd moon;
And the lord of the desert will follow him soon:
And the tiger-wolf laughs in his bone-strewed brake,
As he calls on his mate and her cubs to awake;
And the panther and leopard come leaping along;
All hymning to Hecate a festival song:
For the tumult is over, the slaughter hath ceased --
And the vulture hath bidden them all to the feast!
Scheme | XXAABBCCDDEEFFXX GGHHIIJJKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101011001 11010101011 01111011101 11101011001 11111011011 101101111001 11111011001 011101001001 1111111111 111101011001 11001011011 11011111001 0011010101 1010101011 1101100011 001011001001 111100101 101001111 111110111 001101011011 00101101111 111111001101 001001011001 111101001 101011001011 001011011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,219 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 10 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 483 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 115 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 32 Views
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"The Caffer Commando" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37115/the-caffer-commando>.
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