Analysis of Song-Books of the War
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
In fifty years, when peace outshines
Remembrance of the battle lines,
Adventurous lads will sigh and cast
Proud looks upon the plundered past.
On summer morn or winter's night,
Their hearts will kindle for the fight,
Reading a snatch of soldier-song,
Savage and jaunty, fierce and strong;
And through the angry marching rhymes
Of blind regret and haggard mirth,
They'll envy us the dazzling times
When sacrifice absolved our earth.
Some ancient man with silver locks
Will lift his weary face to say:
'War was a fiend who stopped our clocks
Although we met him grim and gay.'
And then he'll speak of Haig's last drive,
Marvelling that any came alive
Out of the shambles that men built
And smashed, to cleanse the world of guilt.
But the boys, with grin and sidelong glance,
Will think, 'Poor grandad's day is done.'
And dream of lads who fought in France
And lived in time to share the fun.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFEF GHGHIIJJKLKL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101111 01010101 010011101 11010101 11011101 11110101 10011101 10010101 01010101 11010101 110101001 11001101 11011101 11110111 110111101 1111101 01111111 1110101 11010111 01110111 10111011 1111111 01111101 01011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 874 |
Words | 161 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 352 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 79 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 16, 2023
- 49 sec read
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"Song-Books of the War" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34929/song-books-of-the-war>.
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