Analysis of A Quest for Tophet



'Twas a hell of a Hell they glimpsed, my son,
In superstitious days
When cultured man had scarce begun
To shed barbaric ways:
With gridirons set above the flame
For naughty gentlemen.
Who uttered lies that earned them blame
And righteous folk condemn.
'Twas a terrible sort of a Hell, my son,
That crude man pictured then.

But picture a land laid waste, my lad,
In scientific style,
While supermen of a world gone mad
Plan forms of torture vile;
While innocent children fight for breath
In a gas-filled city's street,
And mothers of men call on kind Death
As a friend whose kiss is sweet.
If you're looking about for a Hell, my lad,
You will find this hard to beat.

'Twas the deuce of a Devil they raised, my son,
To rule in their ancient Hells
Horns and a tail, yet a figure of fun,
With a hint of the cap and bells.
With a fork for weapon, he roamed the earth
To garner the souls of men,
Who had slipped from grace: and, with shouts of mirth,
He pitched them into his Pen.
'Twas a humorous sort of a Devil, my son,
That dull folk fled from then.

But picture a Devil at work, my boy,
In his foetid chemical lair.
As he brews Hell broths with a ghoulish joy
To foul god's clean sweet air.
Picture a Devil with bombs on high -
Mass murderer, reeking sin,
As he rains gaunt death from a smiling sky,
And goes, with a maniac grin.
If you're seeking a Devil sans mercy, boy,
He is here, 'neath your Brother's skin.


Scheme ABABCDCXAE FGFGHIHIFI ABAXJEJEAE KLKLMDMDKD
Poetic Form Etheree  (28%)
Metre 1011011111 00101 11011101 110101 1110101 110100 11011111 010101 10100110111 111101 110011111 00101 1110111 111101 110010111 0011101 010111111 1011111 11100110111 1111111 10110101111 1101101 1001101011 10110101 1011101101 1100111 1111101111 1110111 101001101011 111111 1100101111 0111001 1111110101 111111 100101111 1100101 1111110101 0110101 11100101101 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,381
Words 273
Sentences 13
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 10, 10, 10, 10
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 271
Words per stanza (avg) 68
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:23 min read
92

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1915 publication of The Sentimental Bloke sold 65,000 copies in its first year, and by 1917 he was the most prosperous poet in Australian history. Together with Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, both of whom he had collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets. While attributed to Lawson by 1911, Dennis later claimed he himself was the 'laureate of the larrikin'. When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons suggested he was destined to be remembered as the 'Australian Robert Burns'. more…

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