Analysis of A High Cost
See! yonder hint of flick’ring light
Across the barren field of death?
’Tis candle, lit by young lad bright
To write to those whom he has left.
‘Ere this dread war had yet begun,
That fellow there had land and wealth
And left it all behind him, gone
Abroad to face the hand of Death.
And we, in this dark trench of earth
Are meant to slay those weary souls
Who have, as we, their feasts, and mirth,
And fam’lies young, and fathers old.
Take heed, you rulers of great lands
Where forth you send your sons to die;
Why thus must they, with sword in hand,
In strange ground foreign ever lie?
Scheme | ABAX XXXB CXCX XDXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (25%) |
Metre | 1101111 01010111 11011111 11111111 11111101 11011101 01110111 01110111 01011111 11111101 11111101 0110101 11110111 11111111 11111101 01110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 599 |
Words | 124 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
About this poem
Soldiers contemplating their task
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Written on April 02, 2022
Submitted by Dirhaval on April 03, 2022
Modified on April 04, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 61 Views
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"A High Cost" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/126237/a-high-cost>.
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