Analysis of Trench Duty
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake,
Out in the trench with three hours’ watch to take,
I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then
Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men
Crouching in cabins candle-chinked with light.
Hark! There’s the big bombardment on our right
Rumbling and bumping; and the dark’s a glare
Of flickering horror in the sectors where
We raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled,
Or crawling on their bellies through the wire.
‘What? Stretcher-bearers wanted? Some one killed?’
Five minutes ago I heard a sniper fire:
Why did he do it? ... Starlight overhead—
Blank stars. I’m wide-awake; and some chap’s dead.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFEFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011010101 10011110111 1101010101 10110010101 1001010111 11010101101 10001000101 11001000101 1101110101 11011101010 1101010111 110011101010 111111101 1111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 673 |
Words | 112 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 509 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 97 Views
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"Trench Duty" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34982/trench-duty>.
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