Analysis of A Hero.



The warrior knows how fitful is the fight, -
How sad to live, - how sweet perchance to die.
Is Fame his joy? He meets her on the height,
And when he falls he shouts his battle-cry;
His eyes are wet; our own will not be dry.
Nor shall we stint his praise, or our delight,
When he survives to serve his Land aright
And make his fame the watchword of the sky.
In all our hopes his love is with us still;
He tends our faith, he soothes us when we grieve.
His acts are just; his word we must believe,
And none shall spurn him, though his blood they spill
To pierce the heart whose pride they cannot kill. -
Death dies for him whose fame is his reprieve!


Scheme ABABBAABCDDCCD
Poetic Form
Metre 01001110101 1111110111 1111110101 0111111101 11111011111 11111111001 110111111 011101101 01101111111 11101111111 1111111101 0111111111 1101111101 1111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 635
Words 131
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 495
Words per stanza (avg) 131
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
5

Eric Mackay

George Eric Mackay was an English minor poet, now remembered as the sponging half-brother of Marie Corelli, the best-selling novelist. Mackay and Corelli, born Mary Mackay, were the children of Charles Mackay, by different mothers. As a poet he is described as "execrable", and reliant on Corelli's promotion of his works. Mackay achieved some reputation in his time for Letters of a Violinist. It sold 35,000 copies; he repaid Corelli's efforts by implying he wrote her novels. A 1940 biography of Corelli, George Bullock's Marie Corelli: The Life and Death of a Best-Seller, hinted that the relationship was incestuous; this has generally been discounted, though Eric's laziness and lack of scruples are acknowledged. This was an old rumour, attributed to Edmund Gosse. more…

All Eric Mackay poems | Eric Mackay Books

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