Analysis of War's End Armistice Day 1935
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
Greyer and older, still they stand
Wearier, quieter, still they pray;
Men who had offered their all to a land.
And their thoughts run back to an olden day
When Youth sailed gallantly, gaily forth
Romance for King, and faith to the fore
To the older, bitterer lands of the north,
To battle, that men might end all war.
Ageing Diggers, grown wiser now,
Again they are dreaming before their shrine
Of the long-gone day when they made the vow
With hearts uplifted, and eyes a-shine.
And thro' their dreaming there drifts to-day
A newer note and a sad refrain,
As their thoughts return to that bitter fray:
'Was it all in vain? Was it all in vain?'
Soberer, sterner, still they hear
Endless thunder of vengeful guns
Echoing out of a long dead year.
And, 'God,' they pray, 'must these our sons
Learn over again all we'd fain forget?
Buy over again their need of peace
Live over again worse madness yet?
Is earth's grim agony never to cease?'
Ageing Diggers before their shrine:
'Is there never a respite, no release?
We who have suffered look for a sign.
Is there never a hope for a lasting peace?
We who have known it all before:
The madness, agony, needless pain
We who once battled to end all war
Was it all in vain? Was it all in vain?'
Scheme | ababcdcd efefbgbG xhxhijij fjfjdgdG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010111 1100111 1111011101 0111111101 111100101 011101101 101011101 110111111 1101101 0111100111 1011111101 111000101 011101111 010100101 1110111101 1110111101 110111 10101101 100110111 011111101 1100111101 110011111 110011101 1111001011 1100111 1110010101 111101101 11100110101 11111101 010100101 111101111 1110111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,216 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 239 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 68 Views
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"War's End Armistice Day 1935" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6812/war%27s-end-armistice-day-1935>.
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