Analysis of The grand cortège of glory and youth is gone

Christopher John Brennan 1870 (Haymarket, New South Wales) – 1932 (Lewisham, New South Wales)



The grand cortège of glory and youth is gone
flaunt standards, and the flood of brazen tone:
I alone linger, a regretful guest,
here where the hostelry has crumbled down,
emptied of warmth and life, and the little town
lies cold and ruin'd, all its bravery done,
wind-blown, wind-blown, where not even dust may rest.
No cymbal-clash warms the chill air: the way
lies stretch'd beneath a slanting afternoon,
the which no piled pyres of the slaughter'd sun,
no silver sheen of eve shall follow: Day,
ta'en at the throat and choked, in the huge slum
o' the common world, shall fall across the coast,
yellow and bloodless, not a wound to boast.
But if this bare-blown waste refuse me home
and if the skies wither my vesper-flight,
'twere well to creep, or ever livid night
wrap the disquiet earth in horror, back
where the old church stands on our morning's track,
and in the iron-entrellis'd choir, among
rust tombs and blazons, where an isle of light
is bosom'd in the friendly gloom, devise
proud anthems in a long forgotten tongue:
so cozening youth's despair o'er joy that dies.


Scheme ABCDDECFGEFHIIJKKLLMKNMN
Poetic Form
Metre 01111100111 1100011101 1011000101 11011101 10110100101 11010111001 11111110111 1101101101 110101001 01111010101 1101111101 11101010011 10101110101 1001010111 1111110111 0101101101 1111110101 1001010101 10111110101 0001011001 110111111 110010101 1100010101 1110110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,088
Words 191
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 843
Words per stanza (avg) 189
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
85

Christopher John Brennan

Christopher John Brennan was an Australian poet, scholar and literary critic. more…

All Christopher John Brennan poems | Christopher John Brennan Books

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    Who wrote this? 'Look on my Works, ye Mightyand despair!'
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