Analysis of Drought
William Henry Ogilvie 1869 (Scotland) – 1963
My road is fenced with the bleached, white bones
And strewn with the blind, white sand,
Beside me a suffering, dumb world moans
On the breast of a lonely land.
On the rim of the world the lightnings play,
The heat-waves quiver and dance,
And the breath of the wind is a sword to slay
And the sunbeams each a lance.
I have withered the grass where my hot hoofs tread,
I have whitened the sapless trees,
I have driven the faint-heart rains ahead
To hide in their soft green seas.
I have bound the plains with an iron band,
I have stricken the slow streams dumb!
To the charge of my vanguards who shall stand?
Who stay when my cohorts come?
The dust-storms follow and wrap me round;
The hot winds ride as a guard;
Before me the fret of the swamps is bound
And the way of the wild-fowl barred.
I drop the whips on the loose-flanked steers;
I burnt their necks with the bow;
And the green-hide rips and the iron sears
Where the staggering, lean beasts go.
I lure the swagman out of the road
To the gleam of a phantom lake;
I have laid him down, I have taken his load,
And he sleeps till the dead men wake.
My hurrying hoofs in the night go by,
And the great flocks bleat their fear
And follow the curve of the creeks burnt dry
And the plains scorched brown and sere.
The worn men start from their sleepless rest
With faces haggard and drawn;
They cursed the red Sun into the west
And they curse him out of the dawn.
They have carried their outposts far, far out,
But - blade of my sword for a sign! -
I am the Master, the dread King Drought,
And the great West Land is mine!
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEF BGBG HIHI JXJX KLKL MNMN OPOP QRQR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (23%) |
Metre | 111110111 0110111 0110100111 10110101 1011010101 0111001 00110110111 001101 11100111111 111011 1110011101 1101111 1110111101 11100111 101111111 1111101 011100111 0111101 0110110111 00110111 110110111 1111101 0011100101 10100111 11011101 10110101 11111111011 01110111 1100100111 0011111 0100110111 0011101 011111101 1101001 110110101 01111101 111011111 11111101 110100111 0011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,577 |
Words | 309 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 135 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:32 min read
- 258 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Drought" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40764/drought>.
Discuss this William Henry Ogilvie 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