Analysis of The Battle of the Bight
William Watson 1858 (Burley in Wharfedale) – 1935 (Rottingdean)
Had I the fabled herb
That brought to life the dead,
Whom would I dare disturb
In his eternal bed?
Great Grenville would I wake,
And with glad tidings make
The soul of mighty Drake
Heave up a glorying head.
As rose the misty sun,
Our men the North Sea scanned,
And each rejoicing gun
Welcomed a Foe at hand,
And thundering its delight,
Opened its mouth outright,
And bit them in the Bight,
The Bight of Helgoland.
With Captains who could each
Do aught but yield or flee;
With guns that spake the speech
Shall keep this Kingdom free;
We hammered to their doom
Four Giants mid the gloom,
And one to a fiercer tomb
Sent blazing down the sea.
Sleep on, O Drake, sleep well,
In days not wholly dire!
Grenville, whom nought could quell,
Unquenched is still thy fire.
And thou that hadst no peer,
Nelson! thou need'st not fear:
Thy sons and heirs are here,
Nor shall they shame their sire.
Scheme | ABABCCCB DEDEFFFB GHGHIIIH JXJKLLXK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 111101 111101 010101 11111 011101 011101 11011 110101 1010111 010101 100111 0100101 101111 011001 0111 110111 111111 111101 111101 110111 110101 0110101 110101 111111 011101 11111 111110 011111 1011111 110111 1111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 859 |
Words | 167 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
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