Analysis of THE BATTLEFIELD
Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)
The battlefield appears
Just after each midnight,
Ghostly warriors warring again
Where they used to fight.
Knights in rusted armour
Or covered in chainmail,
Fighting till the end of time
Determined never to quail.
Reliving ancient conflicts
Where they used to battle,
Fighting throughout space and time
To the call of the death rattle.
On the field not far from Hell
Long-dead soldiers engage in war,
An outpost near the netherworld
On plains once soaked in gore.
A battleground now overgrown
Where yester-wars were waged,
Many thousands died back then
And most stayed in their graves.
But a few rise up each night
To fight old conflicts once again,
Swords and lances loudly crash
In the war of Once-Were Men.
Nightly various old campaigns
Are repeated until daylight,
Many thousands die once more
Upon this torrid night.
Ancient confrontations are refought
Until the very end of days,
Many thousand re-die each night
Before returning to their graves.
THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Scheme | XABA XCDC XCDC CEXE XXBF ABXB XAEA AXAF XXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01001 11011 101001001 11111 101010 11001 1010111 0101011 0101001 111110 1001101 10110110 1011111 11100101 111010 111101 010101 11101 1010111 011011 1011111 11101101 101101 0011101 10100101 1010011 1010111 011101 1001011 01010111 10101111 01010111 01 101010 100100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 990 |
Words | 167 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 93 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 19 |
About this poem
The battlefield appears Just after each midnight, Ghostly warriors warring again Where they used to fight.
Font size:
Written on July 28, 2021
Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on September 10, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 10 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"THE BATTLEFIELD" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/109213/the-battlefield>.
Discuss this Phil Roberts poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In