Analysis of On the Boundary



I Love the ancient boundary-fence,
   That mouldering chock-and-log.
When I go ride the boundary
   I let the old horse jog
And take his pleasure in and out
   Where the sandalwood grows dense,
And tender pines clasp hands across
   The log that tops the fence.
’Tis pleasant on the boundary-fence,
   These sultry summer days;
A mile away, outside the scrub,
   The plain is all ablaze,
The sheep are panting on the camps,
   The heat is so intense;
But here the shade is cool and sweet
   Along the boundary-fence.

I love to loaf along the fence,
   So does my collie dog,
He often finds a spotted cat
   Hid in a hollow log;
He’s very near as old as I
   And ought to have more sense,
I’ve hammered him so many times
   Along the boundary-fence.

My mother says that boundary fence
   Must surely be bewitched;
The old man says that through that fence
   The neighbours are enriched;
It’s always down, and through the gaps
   Our stock all get them hence,
I takes me half my time to watch
   The doings of that fence.

But should you seek the reason
   You won’t travel very far,
’Tis there a mile away among
   The murmuring Belar:
The Jones’s block joins on to ours,
   And so, in consequence,
It’s part of Polly’s work to ride
   Their side the boundary-fence.


Scheme abcxxaxaadxdxaxA abxbxaxA aeaexaxa xxxcxxxa
Poetic Form Etheree  (28%)
Metre 110101001 11101 11110100 110111 01110001 10111 01011101 011101 110101001 110101 01011101 011101 01110101 011101 11011101 0101001 11110101 111101 11010101 100101 11011111 011111 11011101 0101001 110111001 110101 01111111 01101 1110101 1011111 11111111 010111 1111010 1110101 11010101 01001 01111110 010100 1111111 1101001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,255
Words 224
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 16, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 235
Words per stanza (avg) 56
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:07 min read
34

Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake

Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake was an Australian poet. more…

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