Anarchy



I saw a city filled with lust and shame,
Where men, like wolves, slunk through the grim half-light;
And sudden, in the midst of it, there came
One who spoke boldly for the cause of Right.
  
And speaking, fell before that brutish race
Like some poor wren that shrieking eagles tear,
While brute Dishonour, with her bloodless face
Stood by and smote his lips that moved in prayer.
  
"Speak not of God!    In centuries that word
Hath not been uttered!    Our own king are we."
And God stretched forth his finger as He heard
And o'er it cast a thousand leagues of sea.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 19, 2023

31 sec read
15

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 555
Words 106
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

John Alexander McCrae

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields". McCrae died of pneumonia near the end of the war. more…

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    "Anarchy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/55811/anarchy>.

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