Analysis of On Somme
Ivor Gurney 1890 ( Gloucester) – 1937 ( London)
Suddenly into the still air burst thudding
And thudding and cold fear possessed me all,
On the gray slopes there, where Winter in sullen brooding
Hung between height and depth of the ugly fall
Of Heaven to earth; and the thudding was illness own.
But still a hope I kept that were we there going over
I; in the line, I should not fail, but take recover
From others courage, and not as coward be known.
No flame we saw, the noise and the dread alone
Was battle to us; men were enduring there such
And such things, in wire tangled, to shatters blown.
Courage kept, but ready to vanish at first touch.
Fear, but just held. Poets were luckier once
In the hot fray swallowed and some magnificence
Scheme | ABABCDDCCECEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1000101111 010110111 1011111001010 10110110101 110110011101 11011110111010 1001111111010 110100111011 11110100101 110111001011 011010101101 101110110111 11111001001 001110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 686 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 545 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 129 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 95 Views
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"On Somme" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43032/on-somme>.
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