Analysis of Harry Wilmans
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
I was just turned twenty-one,
And Henry Phipps, the Sunday-school superintendent,
Made a speech in Bindle's Opera House.
"The honor of the flag must be upheld," he said,
"Whether it be assailed by a barbarous tribe of Tagalogs
Or the greatest power in Europe."
And we cheered and cheered the speech and the flag he waved
As he spoke.
And I went to the war in spite of my father,
And followed the flag till I saw it raised
By our camp in a rice field near Manila,
And all of us cheered and cheered it.
But there were flies and poisonous things;
And there was the deadly water,
And the cruel heat,
And the sickening, putrid food;
And the smell of the trench just back of the tents
Where the soldiers went to empty themselves;
And there were the whores who followed us, full of syphilis;
And beastly acts between ourselves or alone,
With bullying, hatred, degradation among us,
And days of loathing and nights of fear
To the hour of the charge through the steaming swamp,
Following the flag,
Till I fell with a scream, shot through the guts.
Now there's a flag over me in Spoon River!
A flag! A flag!
Scheme | ABCDCEFGHIJKLHMNOPQRSTUVWHV |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 01010110010 10101101 010101110111 10110110100111 101010010 011010100111 111 011101011110 0100111111 110100111010 01111011 110101001 01101010 00101 00100101 00110111101 1010111001 01001110111100 01101001101 110010010011 011100111 101010110101 10001 1111011101 11011010110 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,079 |
Words | 208 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 27 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 856 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 204 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 86 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Harry Wilmans" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8595/harry-wilmans>.
Discuss this Edgar Lee Masters poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In