Analysis of "Ave Caesar"
Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton 1864 – 1941
Long ago the Gladiators,
When the call to combat came,
Marching past the massed spectators,
Hailed the Emp'ror with acclaim!
Voices ringing with the fury
Of the strife so soon to be,
Cried, "O Caesar, morituri
salutamus te!"
Nowadays the massed spectators
See the unaccustomed sight,
Legislative gladiators
Marching to their last great fight;
Young and old, obscure and famous,
Hand to hand and knee to knee,
Hear the war-cry, "Salutamus
morituri te!"
Fight! Nor be the fight suspended
Till the corpses strew the plain.
Ere the grisly strife be ended
Five and thirty must be slain.
Slay and spare not, lest another
Haply may discomfit thee:
Brother now must war with brother,
"Salutamus te!"
War-torn vet'ran, skilled debater,
Trickster famed of bridge and road,
Now for each grim gladiator
Gapes Oblivion's drear abode.
Should the last great final jury
Turn their thumbs down, it must be!
"Ave, Caesar, morituri
salutamus te!"
Scheme | ababcccC adadxcac efefgcgC ghghcccC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010100 1011101 10101100 101101 10101010 1011111 11101 11 1001100 100101 100100 1011111 10101010 1110111 10111 11 11101010 1010101 10101110 1010111 10111010 1111 10111110 11 11111010 1011101 1111100 11101 10111010 1111111 1101 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 910 |
Words | 160 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 183 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 13 Views
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""Ave Caesar"" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54814/%22ave-caesar%22>.
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