Analysis of The Bush Girl
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
So you rode from the range where your brothers “select,”
Through the ghostly grey bush in the dawn---
You rode slowly at first, lest her heart should suspect
That you were glad to be gone;
You had scarcely the courage to glance back at her
By the homestead receding from view,
And you breathed with relief as you rounded the spur,
For the world was a wide world to you.
Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain,
Fond heart that is ever more true
Firm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain---
She’ll wait by the sliprails for you.
Ah! The world is a new and a wide one to you,
But the world to your sweetheart is shut,
For a change never comes to the lonely Bush girl
From the stockyard, the bush, and the hut;
And the only relief from the dullness she feels
Is when ridges grow softened and dim,
And away in the dusk to the sliprails she steals
To dream of past meetings “with him.”
Do you think, where, in place of bare fences, dry creeks,
Clear streams and green hedges are seen---
Where the girls have the lily and rose in their cheeks,
And the grass in midsummer is green---
Do you think now and then, now or then, in the whirl
Of the city, while London is new,
Of the hut in the Bush, and the freckled-faced girl
Who is eating her heart out for you?
Grey eyes that are sadder than sunset or rain,
Bruised heart that is ever more true,
Fond faith that is firmer for trusting in vain---
She waits by the sliprails for you
Scheme | A B A B C D C D E D E D D F G F H I H I J K J K G D G D E D E D |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101111001 101011001 111011101101 1101111 111001011110 10101011 011101111001 101101111 1111101111 11111011 11111011001 1110111 101101001111 10111111 101101101011 10101001 001001101011 111011001 00100110111 11111011 111101111011 11011011 101101001011 001011011 111101111001 101011011 101001001011 111001111 1111101111 11111011 11111011001 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,463 |
Words | 282 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 32 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 35 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 9 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 140 Views
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"The Bush Girl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17966/the-bush-girl>.
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