Analysis of The Allies
Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)
August 14th, 1914
Into the brazen, burnished sky, the cry hurls itself. The zigzagging cry
of hoarse throats, it floats against the hard winds, and binds the head
of the serpent to its tail, the long snail-slow serpent of marching men.
Men weighed down with rifles and knapsacks, and parching with war.
The cry jars and splits against the brazen, burnished sky.
This is the war of wars, and the cause? Has this writhing worm of men
a cause?
Crackling against the polished sky is an eagle with a sword. The eagle is red
and its head is flame.
In the shoulder of the worm is a teacher.
His tongue laps the war-sucked air in drought, but he yells defiance
at the red-eyed eagle, and in his ears are the bells of new philosophies,
and their tinkling drowns the sputter of the burning sword. He shrieks,
'God damn you! When you are broken, the word will strike out new shoots.'
His boots are tight, the sun is hot, and he may be shot, but he is in
the shoulder of the worm.
A dust speck in the worm's belly is a poet.
He laughs at the flaring eagle and makes a long nose with his fingers.
He will fight for smooth, white sheets of paper, and uncurdled ink.
The sputtering sword cannot make him blink, and his thoughts are
wet and rippling. They cool his heart.
He will tear the eagle out of the sky and give the earth tranquillity,
and loveliness printed on white paper.
The eye of the serpent is an owner of mills.
He looks at the glaring sword which has snapped his machinery
and struck away his men.
But it will all come again, when the sword is broken to a million dying stars,
and there are no more wars.
Bankers, butchers, shop-keepers, painters, farmers - men, sway and sweat.
They will fight for the earth, for the increase of the slow, sure roots
of peace, for the release of hidden forces. They jibe at the eagle
and his scorching sword.
One! Two! - One! Two! - clump the heavy boots. The cry hurtles
against the sky.
Each man pulls his belt a little tighter, and shifts his gun
to make it lighter. Each man thinks of a woman, and slaps out a curse
at the eagle. The sword jumps in the hot sky, and the worm crawls on
to the battle, stubbornly.
This is the war of wars, from eye to tail the serpent has one cause:
PEACE!
Scheme | X ABCXA CD BX E XXXF XX X XXXX BE X GC XX XFXX DA XXXG DX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011 010101010110101001 11111010110101 10101110111101101 111110010111 0110101010101 1101110011110111 01 10010101111010101011 01111 00101011010 111011101111010 1011100011101110100 0110010101010111 111111100111111 11110111011111110 010101 011001101010 11101010010111110 1111111110011 01001101110111 101001111 111010110101011 01101110 011010111011 111010111110100 010111 11111011011101010101 011111 101011010101101 111101100110111 11100111010111010 01101 111110101011 0101 11111010100111 11110111101001101 1010011001100111 1010100 1101111111010111 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,193 |
Words | 426 |
Sentences | 36 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 2, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 2, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:07 min read
- 60 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Allies" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2295/the-allies>.
Discuss this Amy Lowell poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In