Analysis of When Tommy Came Marching Home
Edward George Dyson 1865 (Ballarat, Victoria) – 1931 (Saint Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria)
Devine came back the other day.
We'd planned a great home-comin'.
No long trombone we had to play,
No fine, heroic drummin'.
With two sticks and a milk-can Borne
Put up a martial clatter,
While Carter blew a bullock-horn
Says Tom Devine, with healthy scorn;
“Gorstruth! what is the matter?”
We set three colored petticoats
From Baker's chimneys blowin'
('Tis not the bravest flag that floats,
Yet 'twas the finest goin');
We cheered our hero all we knew,
No song of praise neglectin',
To show our pride as he limped through
He merely spat and snorted, “Who
“The deuce are yous expectin'?”
They lured him to my shop somehow,
And sued for news of battle.
Says Tom: “Who rides the mail track now?
Who herdin' Stringer's cattle?”
A dint the Turk put in his head.
He covers with a ringlet.
He'd won a medal, so we read.
“I might 'ave 'ad it pinched,” he said-
“I've sewn it in my singlet!”
Says Cole “But, 'struth, you must 'ave seen
A fearful swag of scrappin'.”
And Tom agrees “Where men are keen
That's pretty sure to 'appen.
One night a little bloke from Hay
Who plugged a Pentridge warder
Got such a doin' that at day,
Amazed, they ticked him for a stray
Distinguished Service Order.
“Then Sydney Bob was rather vexed
With Green—who'd pinched his braces,
That was 'continued in our next'
In half a score of places.
McCubbin threw his grub at Lea
(You know how sticky stew is);
They fought till neither man could see.
You talk of fight—Gorstrike me, we
Saw stacks of it at Suez!”
Scheme | ABABBCBBC DBDBBBEEB XFBFGAGGA BBBBACAAC HIHIJXJJX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110101 110111 11011111 110101 11100111 1101010 11010101 11011101 111010 1111010 110101 11010111 110101 111010111 11111 111011111 11010101 01111 1111111 0111110 11110111 11110 01011011 110101 11010111 11111111 111011 11111111 010111 01011111 110111 11010111 110110 1101111 01111101 0101010 11011101 1111110 110100101 0101110 01011111 1111011 11110111 1111111 1111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,522 |
Words | 278 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 224 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 102 Views
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"When Tommy Came Marching Home" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9624/when-tommy-came-marching-home>.
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