Analysis of The Auction

Edward George Dyson 1865 (Ballarat, Victoria) – 1931 (Saint Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria)



'Who'll bid?  Who'll bid? ' the question rang
   Where throned Death was calling.
I seemed to sense his charnel tang,
   Mephitic air appalling;
And every tick I heard the clang
   Of his steel hammer falling.

Come great men who upon our earth
   Had held a lofty mission,
The spacious ones of lordly birth,
   The cunning politician,
And gentlemen of holy worth
   Or wondrous erudition.

One buyer in a corner trolls
   Beyond the ghastly revel.
He buys by lots or single souls,
   His voice is low and level.
And paltry is the price he doles.
   The buyer is the Devil!


Scheme ABABAB CDCDCD EFEFEF
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 111110 1111111 11010 010011101 1111010 111101101 1101010 0101111 010010 01001101 110010 11000101 0101010 11111101 1111010 01010111 0101010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 563
Words 101
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 142
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
68

Edward George Dyson

Edward George Dyson, or 'Ted' Dyson, was an Australian journalist, poet, playwright and short story writer. He was the elder brother of illustrators Will Dyson (1880–1938) and Ambrose Dyson (1876–1913), with three sisters also of artistic and literary praise. Dyson wrote under several – some say many – nom-de-plumes, including Silas Snell. In his day, the period of Australia's federation, the poet and writer was 'ranked very closely to Australia's greatest short-story writer, Henry Lawson'. With Lawson known as the 'swagman poet', Ogilvie the 'horseman poet', Dyson was the 'mining poet'. Although known as a freelance writer, he was also considered part of The Bulletin writer group. more…

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