Analysis of Battalion Relief
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon 1886 ( Matfield, Kent) – 1967 (Heytesbury, Wiltshire)
"Fall in! Now, get a move on!" (Curse the rain.)
We splash away along the straggling village,
Out to the flat rich country green with June....
And sunset flares across wet crops and tillage,
Blazing with splendour-patches. Harvest soon
Up in the Line. "Perhaps the War'll be done
By Christmas-time. Keep smiling then, old son!"
Here's the Canal: it's dusk; we cross the bridge.
"Lead on there by platoons." The Line's a-glare
With shell-fire through the poplars; distant rattle
Of rifles and machine-guns. "Fritz is there!
Christ, ain't it lively, Sergeant? Is't a battle?"
More rain: the lightning blinks, and thunder rumbles.
"There's overhead artillery," some chap grumbles.
"What's all this mob, by the cross-road?" (The guides)....
"Lead on with Number One" (And off they go.)
"Three-minute intervals." ... Poor blundering files,
Sweating and blindly burdened; who's to know
If death will catch them in those two dark miles?
(More rain.) "Lead on, Headquarters."
(That's the lot.)
"Who's that? O, Sergeant-major; don't get shot!
And tell me, have we won this war or not?"
Scheme | XABABCC XDEDEFF XG HGHXIII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011011101 1101010110 1101110111 011011101 101110101 1001010111 1101110111 1001111101 1111010101 11101011010 1100011111 111101011010 11010101010 110101001110 1111101101 1111010111 11010011001 1001010111 1111101111 111110 101 1111010111 0111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,063 |
Words | 189 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 2, 7 |
Lines Amount | 23 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
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"Battalion Relief" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56645/battalion-relief>.
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