Analysis of The Poor, Poor Country
John Shaw Neilson 1872 (Penola, South Australia) – 1942 (Melbourne, Victoria)
Oh 'twas a poor country, in Autumn it was bare,
The only green was the cutting grass and the sheep found little there.
Oh, the thin wheat and the brown oats were never two foot high,
But down in the poor country no pauper was I.
My wealth it was the glow that lives forever in the young,
'Twas on the brown water, in the green leaves it hung.
The blue cranes fed their young all day - how far in a tall tree!
And the poor, poor country made no pauper of me.
I waded out to the swan's nest - at night I heard them sing,
I stood amazed at the Pelican, and crowned him for a king;
I saw the black duck in the reeds, and the spoonbill on the sky,
And in that poor country no pauper was I.
The mountain-ducks down in the dark made many a hollow sound,
I saw in sleep the Bunyip creep from the waters underground.
I found the plovers' island home, and they fought right valiantly,
Poor was the country, but it made no pauper of me.
My riches all went into dreams that never yet came home,
They touched upon the wild cherries and the slabs of honeycomb,
They were not of the desolate brood that men can sell or buy,
Down in that poor country no pauper was I.
* * * * *
The New Year came with heat and thirst and the little lakes were low,
The blue cranes were my nearest friends and I mourned to see them go;
I watched their wings so long until I only saw the sky,
Down in that poor country no pauper was I.
Scheme | aabb ccdd eebb ffdd ggbB hhbB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110010111 0101101010011101 10110011010111 110011011011 11110111010001 110110001111 01111111110011 001110111011 11011011111111 110110100011101 11011001001101 00111011011 010110011100101 1101011101010 110101010111100 1101011111011 11011011110111 11010110001110 101101001111111 10111011011 1 011111010010101 011011010111111 11111101110101 10111011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,434 |
Words | 287 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 43 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 153 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 60 Views
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