Analysis of On the Boundary
Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake 1866 – 1892
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 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 34 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"On the Boundary" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4194/on-the-boundary>.
Discuss this Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake 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