Analysis of A Street Riot

Ada Cambridge 1844 (St Germans, Norfolk) – 1926 (Melbourne)



Poor, hapless souls! at whom we stand aghast,
As at invading armies sweeping by —
As strange to haggard face and desperate cry —
Did we not know the worm must turn at last?
Poor, hungry men, with hungry children cast
Upon the wintry streets to thieve or die —
Suffering your wants and woes so silently -
Patient so long — is all your patience past?

Are there no ears to hear this warning call?
Are there no eyes to see this portent dread?
Must brute force rise and social order fall,
Ere these starved millions can be clothed and fed?
Justice be judge. Let future history say
Which are the greatest criminals to- day.


Scheme ABBAABXA CDCDEE
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111101 1101010101 1111010101 1111011111 1101110101 0101011111 10011011100 1011111101 1111111101 1111111101 1111010101 1111011101 10111101001 1101010011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 118
Sentences 9
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 242
Words per stanza (avg) 58
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
78

Ada Cambridge

Ada Cambridge, later known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian writer. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works. Many of her novels were serialised in Australian newspapers but never published in book form. While she was known to friends and family by her married name, Ada Cross, her newspaper readers knew her as A. C.. She later reverted to her maiden name, Ada Cambridge, and that is how she is known today.  more…

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