Analysis of The Common Man

Julian Tuwim 1894 (Łódź) – 1953 (Zakopane)



When plastered billboards scream with slogans
'fight for your country, go to battle'
When media's print assults your senses,
'Support our leaders' shrieks and rattles...
And fools who don't know any better
Believe the old, eternal lie
That we must march and shoot and kill
Murder, and burn, and bomb, and grill...

When press begins the battle-cry
That nation needs to unify
And for your country you must die...
Dear brainwashed friend, my neighbor dear
Brother from this, or other nation
Know that the cries of anger, fear,
Are nothing but manipulation
by fat-cats, kings who covet riches,
And feed off your sweat and blood - the leeches!
When call to arms engulfs the land
It means that somewhere oil was found,
Shooting 'blackgold' from underground!
It means they found a sneaky way
To make more money, grab more gold
But this is not what you are told!

Don't spill your blood for bucks or oil
Break, burn your rifle, shout: 'NO DEAL!'
Let the rich scoundrels, kings, and bankers
Send their own children to get killed!
May your loud voice be amplified
By roar of other common men
The battle-weary of all nations:
WE WON'T BE CONNED TO WAR AGAIN!


Scheme AXBXXCDD CCCEFEFXBXGGXHH XXXXXIAI
Poetic Form
Metre 11011110 111101110 110011110 0110101010 011111010 01010101 11110101 10010101 11010101 1101110 01110111 1111101 101111010 11011101 11010010 111111010 0111101010 1111101 1111111 101110 11110101 11110111 11111111 11111111 11110111 101101010 11110111 1111110 11110101 010101110 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,154
Words 204
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 15, 8
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 298
Words per stanza (avg) 67
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

1:02 min read
245

Julian Tuwim

Julian Tuwim, known also under the pseudonym "Oldlen" when writing song lyrics, was a Polish poet of Jewish descent, born in Łódź, Congress Poland. more…

All Julian Tuwim poems | Julian Tuwim Books

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