Analysis of Tri-Colour
Poppies, you try to tell me, glowing there in the wheat;
Poppies! Ah no! You mock me: It's blood, I tell you, it's blood.
It's gleaming wet in the grasses; it's glist'ning warm in the wheat;
It dabbles the ferns and the clover; it brims in an angry flood;
It leaps to the startled heavens; it smothers the sun; it cries
With scarlet voices of triumph from blossom and bough and blade.
See the bright horror of it! It's roaring out of the skies,
And the whole red world is a-welter. . . . Oh God! I'm afraid! I'm afraid!
Cornflowers, you say, just cornflowers, gemming the golden grain;
Ah no! You can't deceive me. Can't I believe my eyes?
Look! It's the dead, my comrades, stark on the dreadful plain,
All in their dark-blue blouses, staring up at the skies.
Comrades of canteen laughter, dumb in the yellow wheat.
See how they sprawl and huddle! See how their brows are white!
Goaded on to the shambles, there in death and defeat. . . .
Father of Pity, hide them! Hasten, O God, Thy night!
Lillies (the light is waning), only lilies you say,
Nestling and softly shining there where the spear-grass waves.
No, my friend, I know better; brighter I see than day:
It's the poor little wooden crosses over their quiet graves.
Oh, how they're gleaming, gleaming! See! Each cross has a crown.
Yes, it's true I am dying; little will be the loss. . . .
Darkness . . . but look! In Heaven a light, and it's shining down. . . .
God's accolade! Lift me up, friends. I'm going to win -- my Cross.
Scheme | ABABCDCD ECECAFAF GHGHIJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011111101001 10111111111111 11010010111001 1100100101101101 111010101100111 110101101100101 10110111101101 00111101011101101 101111010101 1111011110111 110111110101 1011110101101 110110100101 1111010111111 1011010101001 1011011101111 101110101011 1001010110111 1111110101111 101101010101101 1111010111101 1111110101101 10110100101101 11011111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,518 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 47 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 366 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 93 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 48 Views
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"Tri-Colour" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32718/tri-colour>.
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