Analysis of The Welcome,

Nettie Palmer 1885 (Bendigo) – 1964 (Hawthorn)



DID you know, little child,   
Ere you left the outer wild,   
 There were strong hands steady,   
 There were old songs ready,   
There was love prepared to keep you with the hard earth reconciled?           

Did you learn beyond the moon   
All the happy sounds of noon?   
 A creek’s voice will greet you,   
 A wattle bend to meet you,   
There are visions, there are voices: you will know them soon and soon.           

Yes, for you will surely go   
Where the deepest gullies grow,   
 They will feel you and take you,   
 With birds to lure and wake you,   
They will set your spirit dancing, they will tell you all they know.           

There beneath the radiant dome   
Unafraid your feet will roam,   
 With the soft creek lapping,   
 And the loose bark flapping,   
While the waving tree-ferns whisper, ‘Little girl, you’ve wandered home.’


Scheme AABBA CCDDC EEDDE FFGGF
Poetic Form
Metre 111101 1110101 101110 101110 11101111101110 1110101 1010111 011111 0101111 111011101111101 1111101 1010101 1111011 1111011 111110101111111 10101001 011111 101110 001110 101011101011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 854
Words 141
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 149
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
64

Nettie Palmer

Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer was an Australian poet, essayist and Australia's leading literary critic of her day. more…

All Nettie Palmer poems | Nettie Palmer Books

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