Analysis of But I Was Looking at the Permanent Stars

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



Bugles sang, saddening the evening air,
And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear.

Voices of boys were by the river-side.
Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad.
The shadow of the morrow weighed on men.

Voices of old despondency resigned,
Bowed by the shadow of the morrow, slept.

( ) dying tone
Of receding voices that will not return.
The wailing of the high far-travelling shells
And the deep cursing of the provoking ( )

The monstrous anger of our taciturn guns.
The majesty of the insults of their mouths.


Scheme XX XXX XX XXXX XX
Poetic Form
Metre 1011000101 0101010011 1011010101 11101011 011010111 1011010001 110110101 101 10101011101 01010111001 0011010010 01010110101 01001001111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 511
Words 92
Sentences 9
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 2, 3, 2, 4, 2
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 81
Words per stanza (avg) 18
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

27 sec read
128

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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