Analysis of War
John Le Gay Brereton 1871 (Sydney) – 1933
The beast exultant spreads the nostril wide,
Snuffing a sickly hate-enkindling scent;
Proud of his rage, on sudden carnage bent,
He leaps, and flings the helpless guard aside.
Again, again the hills are gapped and dyed,
Again the hearts of waiting women spent.
Is there no cooler pathway to content?
Can we not heal the insanity of pride?
Silence the crackle and thunder of battling guns,
And drive your men to strategy of peace;
Crush ere its birth the hell-begotten crime;
Still there's a war that no true warrior shuns,
That knows no mercy, looks for no surcease,
But ghastlier battles, victories more sublime.
Envy has slid in silence to its hole,
And Peace is basking where the workers meet,
And fire has purged the fever of the street
Where raucous tradesmen grinned and gave and stole.
Yet louder now the tides of battle roll,
With cheer or sob of charge or stern retreat,
And sullen thud and rumble of cannon beat
About the heights and passes of the soul.
Not only that amid the hush we hear
The sounds that once were blurred by market cries,
Or classes wrangling in affairs of state:
But forces now set free from sordid fear
No longer work as Mammon's murdering spies,
But storm the very citadels of hate.
Scheme | ABBAABBA CXDCCD EFFEEFFE XGHXGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010101 10010111 1111110101 1101010101 0101011101 0101110101 111101110 11110010011 1001001011001 0111110011 1111010101 11011111001 111101111 1110100101 1011010111 0111010101 01011010101 1101010101 1101011101 1111111101 01010101101 0101010101 1101010111 0111011101 11010000111 1101111101 1101111001 11010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,200 |
Words | 220 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6, 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 242 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 54 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 46 Views
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"War" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23723/war>.
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