Analysis of The Trenches
Frederic Manning 1882 (Sydney) – 1935 (Hampstead)
Endless lanes sunken in the clay,
Bays, and traverses, fringed with wasted herbage,
Seed-pods of blue scabious, and some lingering blooms;
And the sky, seen as from a well,
Brilliant with frosty stars.
We stumble, cursing, on the slippery duck-boards.
Goaded like the damned by some invisible wrath,
A will stronger than weariness, stronger than animal fear,
Implacable and monotonous.
Here a shaft, slanting, and below
A dusty and flickering light from one feeble candle
And prone figures sleeping uneasily,
Murmuring,
And men who cannot sleep,
With faces impassive as masks,
Bright, feverish eyes, and drawn lips,
Sad, pitiless, terrible faces,
Each an incarnate curse.
Here in a bay, a helmeted sentry
Silent and motionless, watching while two sleep,
And he sees before him
With indifferent eyes the blasted and torn land
Peopled with stiff prone forms, stupidly rigid,
As tho’ they had not been men.
Dead are the lips where love laughed or sang,
The hands of youth eager to lay hold of life,
Eyes that have laughed to eyes,
And these were begotten,
O Love, and lived lightly, and burnt
With the lust of a man’s first strength: ere they were rent,
Almost at unawares, savagely; and strewn
In bloody fragments, to be the carrion
Of rats and crows.
And the sentry moves not, searching
Night for menace with weary eyes.
Scheme | XXXXXXXXX XXABCXXXX ACXXXX XXDXXXXXX BD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (29%) |
Metre | 10110001 10111101 11111011001 00111101 101101 110101010011 101011101001 011011001011001 010000100 10110001 01001001111010 0110100100 100 011101 11001011 11001011 110010010 110101 1001010010 10010010111 011011 10101010011 10111110010 1111111 110111111 01111011111 111111 010010 11011001 101101111101 110110001 01010110100 1101 00101110 11101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,417 |
Words | 225 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 6, 9, 2 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 209 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 99 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Trenches" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14212/the-trenches>.
Discuss this Frederic Manning 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