Analysis of Zulu Rebuff, 1879. January 22nd.
They will come over
Hill Shihane.
Already we hear
footsteps running.
Relentless like
Some locomotive.
Running miles and miles.
Unwinded.
And then without pause.
Warfare with
Damnable cunning.
And cat-like agility.
Chief Engineer Chard
Has wasted no time
With barricades of
Mealie bags.
Distributing guns
And bayonets
And cartridges.
Even to sick in Hospital.
And Basuto allies.
The main points
Hospital, storehouse
Cattle Kraal.
And stacked barriers
Uniting
In a ten o’clock
Four o’clock fashion
Chest high.
They are chinking
Peep holes in all walls.
Rapid shot at close range.
When that comes.
Missionary Witt has tried
Convincing of retreat.
Pleading against violence.
The Good Book.
But Bromhead and Chard
Will have none of it.
Surgeon Reynolds
Making ready
Miles of stitching thread.
Cloths, basins, scalpels.
Face looks to face
As brothers readying
Their last.
Field Cries and songs
And shield banging.
Intended to terrify.
But having opposite effect.
For the holding of
Rorke’s Drift Mission.
By the Queen’s own.
Once an Irishman’s happy farm.
On open spaces
By River Buffalo, Natal.
Four thousand and more of them.
Athletic. Incensed.
Cunning.
Brown skins battering.
Like the greatest of
Hunting, hiding creatures.
While Welshmen in red
Sing out their hope.
And Psalms.
Dutch horsemen
Rode right through
Declining service.
Leaving the Jack
Fluttering behind.
A paltry courageous few.
Waiting. Smoking
Red eyes fixed
Upward.
Leaning on rifles.
Scheme | XAXBXXXCXXBC CXDXXXEFX XXFGBBAH BXXX CCXXCC XCCI XBCXBHC DAAXEF XCBBDG CXX AJXXCJBCCI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (47%) |
Metre | 11110 11 01011 110 0101 1010 10101 1 01011 11 110 0110100 11011 11011 1101 11 01001 010 0100 1011010 0110 011 101 101 01100 010 0011 1110 11 111 11011 101111 111 100111 010101 1001100 011 1101 11111 1010 1010 11101 11010 1111 110100 11 1101 0110 010110 11010001 10101 1110 1011 111101 11010 1101010 1100111 0101 10 11100 10101 101010 1101 1111 01 110 111 01010 1001 10001 0100101 1010 111 10 10110 |
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 1,482 |
Words | 289 |
Sentences | 45 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 9, 8, 4, 6, 4, 7, 6, 6, 3, 10 |
Lines Amount | 75 |
Letters per line (avg) | 16 |
Words per line (avg) | 3 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
About this poem
See also the movie ZULU, 1964 with Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins and Michael Caine. https://youtu.be/27HVXQxcoKk
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Written on May 28, 2023
Submitted by dougb.19255 on May 28, 2023
Modified by dougb.19255 on May 28, 2023
- 1:26 min read
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"Zulu Rebuff, 1879. January 22nd." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/160301/zulu-rebuff%2C-1879.-january-22nd.>.
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