Analysis of Old Tunes
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
When friends are listening round me, Jack, to hear my dying breath,
And I am lying in a sleep they say will end in death,
Don’t notice what the doctor says—and let the nurse complain——
I’ll tell you how to rouse me if I’ll ever wake again.
Just you bring in your fiddle, Jack, and set your heart in tune,
And strike up “Annie Laurie”, or “The Rising of the Moon”;
And if you see no token of a rising in my throat,
You’ll need to brace your mouth, old man—I’m booked by Charon’s boat.
And if you are not satisfied that I am off the scene,
Strike up “The Marseillaise”, or else “The Wearing of the Green”;
And should my fingers tremble not, then I have crossed the line,
But keep your fingers steady, Jack, and strike up “Auld Lang Syne”.
Scheme | AABX CCDD EEXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (33%) |
Metre | 111100111111101 01110001111101 11010101010101 11111111110101 11101101011101 01110101010101 01111101010011 1111111111111 0111110111101 110111010101 01110101111101 11110101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 773 |
Words | 144 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 70 Views
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"Old Tunes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17871/old-tunes>.
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