Analysis of The Grave

John Le Gay Brereton 1871 (Sydney) – 1933



In the grey dawn I lie within my bed
Still as a frozen lake that pats no more
With murmurous delight the o'erhanging shore,
Yet grim thoughts heave obscurely in my head;
For curtains I have earthen walls, and lead
Is colder than the woollen garb I wore--
But oh! that heart of mine is still as sore
As when I did not know that I was dead.
I knew her (O my Life!) and she was fair,
And gave her beauty to the hills and sea,
The wonder of her voice to leaf and wave.
The brown earth lies between us; does she care
That since she cast the first dull clod on me
My lonely heart is aching in the grave?


Scheme ABBAABBACDECDE
Poetic Form
Metre 0011110111 1101011111 1101011 11111011 1101110101 1101010111 1111111111 1111111111 1101110111 0101010101 0101011101 0111011111 1111011111 1101110001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 605
Words 126
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 459
Words per stanza (avg) 123
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

38 sec read
20

John Le Gay Brereton

John Le Gay Brereton was an Australian poet, critic and professor of English at the University of Sydney. He was the first president of the Fellowship of Australian Writers when it was formed in Sydney in 1928. more…

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