Analysis of The Redeemer
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
Darkness: the rain sluiced down; the mire was deep;
It was past twelve on a mid-winter night,
When peaceful folk in beds lay snug asleep;
There, with much work to do before the light,
We lugged our clay-sucked boots as best we might
Along the trench; sometimes a bullet sang,
And droning shells burst with a hollow bang;
We were soaked, chilled and wretched, every one;
Darkness; the distant wink of a huge gun.
I turned in the black ditch, loathing the storm;
A rocket fizzed and burned with blanching flare,
And lit the face of what had been a form
Floundering in mirk. He stood before me there;
I say that He was Christ; stiff in the glare,
And leaning forward from His burdening task,
Both arms supporting it; His eyes on mine
Stared from the woeful head that seemed a mask
Of mortal pain in Hell's unholy shine.
No thorny crown, only a woollen cap
He wore-an English soldier, white and strong,
Who loved his time like any simple chap,
Good days of work and sport and homely song;
Now he has learned that nights are very long,
And dawn a watching of the windowed sky.
But to the end, unjudging, he'll endure
Horror and pain, not uncontent to die
That Lancaster on Lune may stand secure.
He faced me, reeling in his weariness,
Shouldering his load of planks, so hard to bear.
I say that He was Christ, who wrought to bless
All groping things with freedom bright as air,
And with His mercy washed and made them fair.
Then the flame sank, and all grew black as pitch,
While we began to struggle along the ditch;
And someone flung his burden in the muck,
Mumbling: 'O Christ Almighty, now I'm stuck!'
Scheme | ABABBCCDD EFEFFGHGH IJIJJKLK LXFXFFMMNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001110111 1111101101 1101011101 1111110101 11101111111 0101010101 0101110101 10110101001 1001011011 1100111001 010101111 0101111101 10001110111 1111111001 01010111001 1101011111 1101011101 1101010101 1101100101 1111010101 1111110101 1111010101 1111111101 0101010101 11011101 10011111 110111101 1111001100 10011111111 1111111111 1101110111 0111010111 1011011111 11011100101 011110001 10011010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,608 |
Words | 298 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 8, 10 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 312 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 74 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 15, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 83 Views
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"The Redeemer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34961/the-redeemer>.
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