Analysis of The King (II)

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



And now a son has come again
To keep the peace or strike the blow,
And have a long, great, glorious reign,
Through calm or tempest, weal or woe.
And strange things set me wondering –
As man and youth, we knew him here,
The one the only British King,
To see his Southern Hemisphere.

‘Midst pealing bells and cannons’ din
The countless thousands cheer and strive
To catch one glance of their new King
And queenly Mary, his fair bride;
‘Til on their knees, within the Fane,
The Royal couple meekly kneel,
The Great God’s clemency to claim,
And pray Him for their people’s weal.

And so I see, in vision clear,
The long reign of this noble line,
How on and on, from year to year
The star of peace shall brighter shine,
How men and nations, without fear
Shall hope and labour, strive and sing:
“The day of liberty is here!
The King is Dead! Long Live the King”


Scheme XABACDCE XXCXBXXA EFEFECDC
Poetic Form
Metre 01011101 11011101 010111001 11110111 01111100 11011111 01010101 1111010 1110101 01010101 11111111 0110111 11110101 01010101 01110011 01111101 01110101 01111101 11011111 01111101 11010011 1101101 01110011 01111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 856
Words 164
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 219
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
67

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson 17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922 was an Australian writer and poet Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period more…

All Henry Lawson poems | Henry Lawson Books

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