Analysis of Corporal Stare

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Back from the line one night in June,
I gave a dinner at Bethune—
Seven courses, the most gorgeous meal
Money could buy or batman steal.
Five hungry lads welcomed the fish
With shouts that nearly cracked the dish;
Asparagus came with tender tops,
Strawberries in cream, and mutton chops.
Said Jenkins, as my hand he shook,
“They’ll put this in the history book.”
We bawled Church anthems in choro
Of Bethlehem and Hermon snow,
With drinking songs, a jolly sound
To help the good red Pommard round.
Stories and laughter interspersed,
We drowned a long La Bassée thirst—
Trenches in June make throats damned dry.
Then through the window suddenly,
Badge, stripes and medals all complete,
We saw him swagger up the street,
Just like a live man—Corporal Stare!
Stare! Killed last May at Festubert.
Caught on patrol near the Boche wire,
Torn horribly by machine-gun fire!
He paused, saluted smartly, grinned,
Then passed away like a puff of wind,
Leaving us blank astonishment.
The song broke, up we started, leant
Out of the window—nothing there,
Not the least shadow of Corporal Stare,
Only a quiver of smoke that showed
A fag-end dropped on the silent road.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFGHHIIFJKKFHFFLMNNFFOO
Poetic Form
Metre 11011101 11010101 101001101 1011111 11011001 11110101 010011101 10010101 11011111 111001001 1111001 1100101 11010101 1101111 1001001 11011111 10011111 11010100 11010101 11110101 110111001 111111 110110110 1100101110 11010101 110110111 10110100 011111010 11010101 101111001 100101111 011110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,172
Words 201
Sentences 12
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 32
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 913
Words per stanza (avg) 198
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
98

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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