Analysis of Louse Hunting
Isaac Rosenberg 1890 (Bristol) – 1918 (Somme)
Nudes -- stark and glistening,
Yelling in lurid glee. Grinning faces
And raging limbs
Whirl over the floor one fire.
For a shirt verminously busy
Yon soldier tore from his throat, with oaths
Godhead might shrink at, but not the lice.
And soon the shirt was aflare
Over the candle he'd lit while we lay.
Then we all sprang up and stript
To hunt the verminous brood.
Soon like a demons' pantomine
The place was raging.
See the silhouettes agape,
See the glibbering shadows
Mixed with the battled arms on the wall.
See gargantuan hooked fingers
Pluck in supreme flesh
To smutch supreme littleness.
See the merry limbs in hot Highland fling
Because some wizard vermin
Charmed from the quiet this revel
When our ears were half lulled
By the dark music
Blown from Sleep's trumpet.
Scheme | ABXCXXXCX DDEAXXXXXBAEXDXD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (28%) |
Metre | 110100 1001011010 0101 11001110 101110 110111111 11111101 010111 1001011111 1111101 11011 110101 01110 100101 1011 110101101 10100110 10011 11011 1010101101 0111010 11010110 1101011 10110 11110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 758 |
Words | 138 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 16 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 311 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 68 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 58 Views
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"Louse Hunting" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19387/louse-hunting>.
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