Analysis of Lines in Praise of Tommy Atkins
William Topaz McGonagall 1825 – 1902 (Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh)
Success to Tommy Atkins, he's a very brave man,
And to deny it there's few people can;
And to face his foreign foes he's never afraid,
Therefore he's not a beggar, as Rudyard Kipling has said.
No, he's paid by our Government, and is worthy of his hire;
And from our shores in time of war he makes our foes retire,
He doesn't need to beg; no, nothing so low;
No, he considers it more honourable to face a foreign foe.
No, he's not a beggar, he's a more useful man,
And, as Shakespeare has said, his life's but a span;
And at the cannon's mouth he seeks for reputation,
He doesn't go from door to door seeking a donation.
Oh, think of Tommy Atkins when from home far away,
Lying on the battlefield, earth's cold clay;
And a stone or his knapsack pillowing his head,
And his comrades lying near by him wounded and dead.
And while lying there, poor fellow, he thinks of his wife at home,
And his heart bleeds at the thought, and he does moan;
And down his cheek flows many a silent tear,
When he thinks of his friends and children dear.
Kind Christians, think of him when far, far away,
Fighting for his Queen and Country without dismay;
May God protect him wherever he goes,
And give him strength to conqner his foes.
To call a soldier a beggar is a very degrading name,
And in my opinion it's a very great shame;
And the man that calls him a beggar is not the soldier's friend,
And no sensible soldier should on him depend.
A soldier is a man that ought to be respected,
And by his country shouldn't be neglected;
For he fights our foreign foes, and in danger of his life,
Leaving behind him his relatives and his dear wife.
Then hurrah for Tommy Atkins, he's the people's friend,
Because when foreign foes assail us he does us defend;
He is not a beggar, as Rudyard Kipling has said,
No, he doesn't need to beg, he lives by his trade.
And in conclusion I will say,
Don't forget his wife and children when he's far away;
But try and help them all you can,
For remember Tommy Atkins is a very useful man.
Scheme | AABC XXDD AAEE FFCC XXXX FFGG HHII XXJJ IICB FFAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (50%) |
Metre | 0111010101011 0101111101 011110111001 1110101101011 11111010001101110 0110101111110101 11011111011 11010111110101 111010101101 0111111101 010101111010 11011111100010 1111010111101 101010111 001111111 011101111001 011011101111111 01111010111 01111100101 1111110101 11011111101 101110100101 1101101011 01111111 1101001010100101 001010101011 001111010110101 011001011101 0101011111010 01110101010 111101010010111 1001111000111 1011101010101 01110101111101 1110101101011 111011111111 00010111 1011101011101 11011111 101010101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,979 |
Words | 384 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 154 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 62 Views
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"Lines in Praise of Tommy Atkins" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41831/lines-in-praise-of-tommy-atkins>.
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