Analysis of Laissez-Faire
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
We'd harbored them on hovels, and in dens,
Altho' in price they counted less than cattle,
Had they not still the right, that ws all men's,
To strive and in a place in life's stern battle?
Had they not still the gift of God's free air,
His glorious sun, and every freeman's birthright
To fight the snarling pack and snatch a share?
Why should the task be ours to set the earth right?
Man may not win (we'd said) to earthly ease
Saving thro' strength, or birth, or lucky gamble.
Why, then, a truce to sentimental pleas;
Let us continue with the merry scramble
In which the valiant strong, to gain high place
Pulls down and climbs upon some weaker rival.
'Tis Nature's law. And thus a stalwart race
Is e'er upheld by glorious survival.
Upon the olden road to Jericho
We watched, not one, but myriads fall and sicken.
We grieved; but saw no duty to stoop low.
Were we accountable for all Earth's stricken?
Shrewdly we passed by on the other side,
Planning such schemes as trouble a man's mind most.
'Not ours to alter Nature's law,' we cried.
'Each for himself, and devil take the hindmost.'
And so the devil took them - not for death;
But to live on where want and squalor cherish
Undreamed-of evils, whose miasmal breath
So taints the air that all the race may perish.
Is it too late to stay the avenging hand?
Too late to hold at bay this savage Reaper
Men have invoked? Till all shall understand
And cry at last, 'I am my brother's keeper!'
Scheme | ABABCDCD EBEBFBFB GHGHIXID JKJKLMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110001 1011101110 1111011100111 11000101110 1111011111 110010100101 1101010101 110111011011 1111111101 10111111010 110110101 11010101010 0101011111 11010111010 1101010101 110011100010 010101110 1111111010 1111110111 01010011110 1011110101 10111100111 11011010111 1101010101 0101011111 11111101010 01110111 11011101110 11111100101 11111111010 110111101 01111111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,419 |
Words | 272 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 278 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 18, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 45 Views
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"Laissez-Faire" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6421/laissez-faire>.
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