Analysis of Sloth (I) & (II)

Bernard O'Dowd 1866 (Beaufort) – 1953



Sloth (I)
Too many a Samsan lip your teeth indent:
Too many a Sybil girl you lure to make
The Great Refusal for a fireside sake:
And glamoured poet many a look has sent
Into those eyeballs bear-brown, somnolent,
Nor dreamed that devils in each muddy lake
Were sucking his devotion in to slake
The furrowed belly of your fanged content!
Religion's bane and Freedom's subtlest foe!
Behold the poppied freight your barges bring
The dim-lit souls that crave the prophet's gleam,
Or fettered people's writhing 'neath their woe--
Gossamer clips and thriftless harvesting
Of phantom flocks and shadowy tilth of dream!

Sloth (II)
My dreams dissolve the day's illusive net:
While crested Action's billows blinding beat,
Omniscient Eyes in troughs of Faith I meet:
I wait with ancient stars until they set
Lest forward progress should their runes forget:
I am the rest that makes the bar complete:
And, in the shackled body of Defeat,
The womb of Baby Triumph living yet!
I am the blende of sleeping radiance:
The Siding where belated Industry
Draws from a Silent Tank tomorrow's zest:
Prophetic Art's preparatory Trance:
Dilating Force's Sabbath systole:
The Night of Brahm when worn Creators rest!


Scheme ABCCBXCCBDEFDEF AGHHGGHHGXXIXXI
Poetic Form
Metre 11 1100111101 11001011111 0101010101 0110100111 011111100 1111001101 0101010011 0101011110 010101011 010111101 011111011 1101010111 100101100 11010100111 11 1101010101 1101010101 0101011111 1111010111 110111101 1101110101 0001010101 0111010101 1101110100 0101010100 110101011 010101001 110101 0111110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,197
Words 200
Sentences 6
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 15, 15
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 477
Words per stanza (avg) 99
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
75

Bernard O'Dowd

Bernard Patrick O'Dowd was an Australian activist, educator, poet, journalist, and author of several law books and poetry books. O'Dowd worked as an assistant-librarian and later Chief Parliamentary Draughtsman in the Supreme Court at Melbourne for 48 years; he was also a co-publisher and writer for the radical paper Tocsin. Bernard O'Dowd lived to age 87. more…

All Bernard O'Dowd poems | Bernard O'Dowd Books

0 fans

Discuss this Bernard O'Dowd poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Sloth (I) & (II)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4283/sloth-%28i%29-%26-%28ii%29>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    12
    hours
    45
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using "like" or "as" is called a _______.
    A simile
    B metaphor
    C hyperbole
    D personification