Analysis of As Ireland Wore the Green
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
BY RIGHT of birth in southern land I send my warning forth.
I see my country ruined by the wrongs that damned the North.
And shall I stand with fireless eyes and still and silent mouth
While Mammon builds his Londons on the fair fields of the South?
CHORUS:
O must we hide our colour
In fear of Mammon’s spleen?
Or shall we wear the bonnie blue
As Ireland wore the green?
As Ireland wore the green, my friends!
As Ireland wore the green!
Aye, we will wear our colour still,
As Ireland wore the green!
I see the shade of poverty fall on each sunny scene.
And slums and alley-ways extend where fields were evergreen.
There is a law that stamps the flower of freedom as it springs;
And this upon a soil that’s trod by prouder feet than kings’.
And must I hide my colour
In fear of Mammon’s spleen?
Or shall I wear the bonnie blue
As Ireland wore the green?
As Ireland wore the green, my friends!
As Ireland swore the green!
Aye, I will wear my colour yet,
As Ireland wore the green!
Out there beyond the lonely range our fathers toiled for years
’Neath all the hardships that beset true-hearted pioneers;
And our brave mothers journeyed there to do the work of men
On those great awful plains that were unfit for women then.
Then must we hide our colour
In fear of Mammon’s spleen?
Or shall we wear the bonnie blue
As Ireland swore the green?
As Ireland wore the green, my friends!
As Ireland wore the green!
Aye, we shall wear our colour still,
As Ireland wore the green!
O shall the fields our fathers won be yielded to the few
Who never touched the axe or spade, and hardships never knew?
Shall lordly robbers rule the land and build their mansions high,
And ladies flaunt their jewelled plumes where our brave mothers lie?
O must we hide our colour
In fear of Mammnon’s spleen?
Or shall the wear the bonnie blue
As Ireland wore the green?
As Ireland wore the green, my friends!
As Ireland wore the green!
Aye, the will wear our colour yet,
As Ireland wore the green!
What though our stalwart fathers came from every land on earth,
We will be loyal to the land that gives our children birth.
We’ll show our banner to the sun—the Southern Cross displayed—
And join our strength together for the home our fathers made.
Let cowards hide their colour
For fear of Mammon’s spleen!
But I will wear my bonnie blue
As Ireland swore the green!
As Ireland swore the green, my friends!
As Ireland wore the green!
Aye, I will wear my colour still,
As Ireland swore the green!
We’ll light the lamp of hope above the alley and the slum,
And teach the poor and drill them for the war that is to come.
We’ll send our songs recruiting far beneath the western sky,
And wake the towns and let them know the day of deeds is nigh.
And the twill wear our colour
In spite of Mammon’s spleen!
O the will wear the bonnie blue
As Ireland wore the green!
As Ireland wore the green, my friends!
As Ireland wore the green!
Aye, the will wear our colour yet,
As Ireland wore the green!
Scheme | aabb xCDEDFDgD ddhh cDeDFDiD jjkk cDEDFDgD eell CdeDFDID mmnn cdeDfDgD ooll cdeDFDID |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101111101 11110101011101 0111111010101 111111011101 10 1111101 01111 11110101 1100101 110010111 1100101 11111011 1100101 11011100111101 0101010111010 110111010110111 01010111110111 011111 01111 11110101 1100101 110010111 1100101 1111111 1100101 110101011010111 1101010111001 010110101110111 11110110011101 1111101 01111 11110101 1100101 110010111 1100101 11111011 1100101 110110101110101 11010111010101 1110101011101 01011111101101 1111101 01111 11010101 1100101 110010111 1100101 10111011 1100101 1110101011100111 111101011110101 111010101010101 0110101010110101 110111 11111 11111101 1100101 110010111 1100101 1111111 1100101 11011101010001 01010111011111 111010101010101 01010111011111 0011101 01111 10110101 1100101 110010111 1100101 10111011 1100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,919 |
Words | 558 |
Sentences | 44 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 9, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8 |
Lines Amount | 73 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 193 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:47 min read
- 47 Views
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"As Ireland Wore the Green" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17733/as-ireland-wore-the-green>.
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