Analysis of Echoes
Frank Wilmot 1881 (Collingwood) – 1942
I have returned into my land of day,
And lo! it is not light!
And she who claims my homage is betrayed.
I went to furious fighting in far lands
To slay the beast that followed her with leering eyes,
But surely he sailed past me on the night wave
And piled my land in silent ruin cunningly.
Australia, speak!
Surely you have not died in such a little while?
Why will you taunt me with your silences
That make all sacrifice seem in vain?
Speak in a voice of your own.
I do not understand what things you tell me
With these strange lips and foreign tones;
Is it not enough
That your wharves are piled with alien merchandise -
Must your young soul be flooded with foreign despairs?
Of old the adventurous ships
Freighted with golden visions and gallant men
Swung into our sun-splashed harbours
Bringing their woes with them,
Their woes with them.
And all our blazing suns have not burned them white
Nor sharp winds blown them clean.
While I protected your body
No one remembered your soul;
The fumes of the ancient hells have invaded your spirit,
And old reputed disaster has broken your heart.
Australia, speak!
While I have lain broken with wounds,"
In the scorching sands of the north,
Have old men come ravishing you?
Has my enemy been here?
Speak to me;
Name me the betrayers!
Yet, mayhap you are learning to adore them!
I have gone with vain women,
And women veiled and strange, in foreign lands,
But always I dreamed of you,
And I said to the women I fondled,
'Oh, there's an adorable lady fairer than you!'
Now, when I return to these shores,
Something is gone from your grace,
And your voice it is smothered and strange;
The poisonous winds have soiled the shining hair
Of the fair lady I went out to save.
She does not speak in a voice that is her own,
But mumbles echoes of things half comprehended,
And round her red lips hover alien words.
Is it your hear that has changed,
Or, from the things I have suffered,
Have I acquired new vision?
I have returned into a world of shadows,
I have returned into a land of echoes,
A thin-drawn filament of echoed impulses
Smothers your gleaming spaces.
Echoes of false, unworthy things
That blast the older worlds I've loitered in
Hide you from me,
Hold you from me,
Blast your green gullies,
Cloud your arboured roads
For you I have struggled and sinned,
Stood firmly against the lure of a comforting death,
And now you are dying, betrayed,
Bloodless, pale as a dream,
Murmuring foreign ideas,
Brooding on the Romanoffs, the Syndicates, the Boyne!
Shuddering in echoes of ceaseless war and causeless revolution,
Drowned in echoes of reflected troubles.
Dying amid your groves of golden trees,
Surrounded by the unregarded dawn!
So do I see you now!
Is it your heart that has changed,
Or, from the things I have suffered,
Have I acquired new vision?
Australia, speak!
I have brought you trinkets and trophies and banners,
New law, new impulses, new dreams;
Droves of worshippers utter your name in awe,
The name I have written in blood on the moving sands,
In stars on the blue night's face
That the sea calls back to the blue.
Australia, speak!
Is this the country I went forth to save?
Do you remember my name,
Or is my memory lost in your surging echoes,
And your voice, my voice, silent for evermore?
Waken and speak to me,
For the dawn, all unregarded,
Fades ...
Of old the adventurous ships
Swung into our sun-splashed harbours
Bringing their woes
Scheme | abcdefg Hgix jkxxex LxDmmbx kgxxH xxnxkdm odnxnxpxxfjxxqRO ssitxxkkuxxx cxtxoxuxxqRO Hxxxdpg Hfxsxkax LDs |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011111 011111 0111110101 11110010011 11011100111 11011111011 0111010101 0101 101111010101 1111111100 11110101 1001111 1110111111 11110101 11101 11111110010 111111011001 11001001 1110100101 10110111 101111 1111 011010111111 111111 11010110 1101011 01101011010110 0101001011011 0101 11111011 00101101 11111001 1110011 111 1101 1111101011 1111110 0101010101 111111 0111010110 1110100101011 11101111 1011111 011111001 01001110101 1011011111 11110011101 11010111010 01011101001 1111111 11011110 11010110 1101010111 11010101110 011100110100 1011010 10110101 110101110 1111 1111 11110 1111 11111001 1100101101001 01111001 101101 10010010 1010101001 100010110101010 1010101010 1001111101 0101011 111111 1111111 11011110 11010110 0101 111110010010 11110011 11100101101 0111100110101 0110111 10111101 0101 1101011111 1101011 1111001011010 0111110110 100111 10111 1 11001001 10110111 1011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,316 |
Words | 618 |
Sentences | 34 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 4, 6, 7, 5, 7, 16, 12, 12, 7, 8, 3 |
Lines Amount | 94 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 223 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 03, 2023
- 3:05 min read
- 119 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Echoes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14082/echoes>.
Discuss this Frank Wilmot poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In