Analysis of Veteran
Lindsay G H Hall 1954 (Oxford)
Unkempt, unshaven, in a corner seat
That forever and a day has been
His kingdom, nursing with wizened hands his little gin, He contemplates in silence his own feet.
Draping the collar of a grubby overcoat,
Shaggy white locks declare not merely years,
But spoilt and wasted wisdom, blast curse
Of spent life, woven with the scabbed soot
Of all our human spate. He’ll not say it, but tears
Are there behind, beneath, beyond the cowl
Of English reserve. His ancient, furrowed brow
Shadows, but cannot hide, the princely scowl
That thinks on comrades – found, made and lost - In World War I – as were it yesterday – so long ago.
Scheme | AXA XXXX XBXBX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101000101 101000111 1101011011101110010111 10010101010 1011011101 110101011 111101011 1110101111111 1101010101 11001110101 111010101 111111010111101101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 659 |
Words | 114 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 4, 5 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 41 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 163 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted by LindsayGeorge on April 29, 2021
Modified by LindsayGeorge on April 29, 2021
- 34 sec read
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"Veteran" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/98732/veteran>.
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