Analysis of The early shepherd
GIDRAF MWANGI 1992 (Murang'a)
Bark sandals strapped with lianas
A cow-hide cloak full of furs
Knotted at one shoulder
A goat skin of a head gear
Thin claw-like hands, dry and flaky
Holding a staff from a Mutundu Tree
Across the shoulders behind the neck
Which is thin and mottled
With a hook for holding onto when the body tire
Through the bush he guards the goats
Cows and sheep that are his life-holds
Frequent whacks ensure no damage
For the huge maize plantations’ sake
Through the morning mist he walks
Trotting here and there to keep them
In bundles
So that they do not get carried away
Into the grim forests
They are the first creatures to
Wipe the dew from grass
In the Great Plains that dot the Kikuyu
Countryside
Before the sun shows off its grin in the distant hills
And the lions wake to tempt their
Chance at the herds
When the grass is greener…..
Before the sun bakes them browner!
© GIDRAF MWANGI
Scheme | AABX CCXXB AADX AXAXA XAXXAXA BB D |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111 0111111 101110 0111011 11111010 10011011 010100101 111010 10111010101010 1011101 10111111 10101110 1011101 1010111 10101111 010 1111111001 010110 1101101 10111 00111101 10 0101111100101 00101111 1101 101110 01011110 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 864 |
Words | 164 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 5, 4, 5, 7, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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