Analysis of A War Song to Englishmen
Prepare, prepare the iron helm of war,
Bring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb;
Th' Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands,
And casts them out upon the darken'd earth!
Prepare, prepare!
Prepare your hearts for Death's cold hand! prepare
Your souls for flight, your bodies for the earth;
Prepare your arms for glorious victory;
Prepare your eyes to meet a holy God!
Prepare, prepare!
Whose fatal scroll is that? Methinks 'tis mine!
Why sinks my heart, why faltereth my tongue?
Had I three lives, I'd die in such a cause,
And rise, with ghosts, over the well-fought field.
Prepare, prepare!
The arrows of Almighty God are drawn!
Angels of Death stand in the louring heavens!
Thousands of souls must seek the realms of light,
And walk together on the clouds of heaven!
Prepare, prepare!
Soldiers, prepare! Our cause is Heaven's cause;
Soldiers, prepare! Be worthy of our cause:
Prepare to meet our fathers in the sky:
Prepare, O troops, that are to fall to-day!
Prepare, prepare!
Alfred shall smile, and make his harp rejoice;
The Norman William, and the learnèd Clerk,
And Lion Heart, and black-brow'd Edward, with
His loyal queen, shall rise, and welcome us!
Prepare, prepare!
Scheme | xxxaB baxxB xxcxB xxxxB ccxxB xxxxB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010111 1101100101 111011111101 0111010101 0101 0111111101 1111110101 01111100100 0111110101 0101 110111111 11111111 1111110101 0111100111 0101 0101010111 1011100110 1011110111 01010101110 0101 10011011101 10011101101 01111010001 0111111111 0101 1011011101 0101000111 0101011101 1101110101 0101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,166 |
Words | 204 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 153 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 328 Views
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"A War Song to Englishmen" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39085/a-war-song-to-englishmen>.
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