Analysis of The Plains
George Essex Evans 1863 (London) – 1909 (Toowoomba)
WIDE are the plains—the plains that stretch to the west
An ocean of trackless waste, untrodden and rude,
Where an Austral sun flings fire on earth’s bare breast,
Brazen skies o’erhanging a treeless solitude.
Wild are the plains—the plains that shimmer and surge,
Leagues of billowy grass like an angry sea,
Bend ’neath the storm-wind, chanting its mystic dirge—
The wind that knows no Lord—Lord of ocean or lea.
Calm are the plains—when the moon’s clear beams are shed
And the wilds lie hushed, all shrouded in silver-grey,
And Nature sinks to rest like one whose life has fled,
E’en as a bride lying dead in her bridal array.
Weird are the plains—the plains that wait for the dawn
When the shadowy darkness strives with the sickly light,
And the battle hangs in the balance, finely drawn,
Till the spears of morning pierce through the mail of night.
Who shall hear, O Nature, messages thou wouldst send
In thy desolate places, far from the moving throng?
Ah, but the soul that loveth thee best may comprehend,
The voice of the silence speaketh louder than song!
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme Quatrain |
Metre | 11010111101 110111101 111011101111 101101010 11010111001 111111101 11011101101 011111111011 11011011111 001111100101 010111111111 1101101001001 11010111101 1010010110101 001010010101 101110110111 111110100111 0110010110101 11011111101 01101011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,073 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 168 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 53 Views
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