Analysis of A Dirge of Joy
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Oh! this is a joyful dirge, my friends, and this is a hymn of praise;
And this is a clamour of Victory, and a pæan of Ancient Days.
It isn’t a Yelp of the Battlefield; nor a Howl of the Bounding Wave,
But an ode to the Things that the War has Killed, and a lay of the Festive Grave.
’Tis a triolet of the Tomb, you bet, and a whoop because of Despair,
And it’s sung as I stand on my hoary head and wave my legs in the air!
Oh! I dance on the grave of the Suffragette (I dance on my hands and dome),
And the Sanctity-of-the-Marriage-Tie and the Breaking-Up-of-the-Home.
And I dance on the grave of the weird White-Slave that died when the war began;
And Better-Protection-for-Women-and-Girls, and Men-Made-Laws-for-Man!
Oh, I dance on the Liberal Lady’s grave and the Labour Woman’s, too;
And the grave of the Female lie and shriek, with a dance that is wild and new.
And my only regret in this song-a-let as I dance over dale and hill,
Is the Yarn-of-the-Wife and the Tale-of-the-Girl that never a war can kill.
Oh, I dance on the grave of the want-ter-write, and I dance on the Tomb of the Sneer,
And poet-and-author-and-critic, too, who used to be great round here.
But “Old Mother Often” (“Mother of Ten”) and “Parent” escaped from the grave—
And “Pro Bono Publico” liveth again, as “Victis,” or “Honour the Brave.”
Oh, lightly I danced upon Politics’ grave where the Friend of the Candidate slept,
And over the Female Political Devil, oh wildly I bounded and leapt.
But this dance shall be nothing compared with the dance of the spook of the writer who sings
On the grave of the bard and the Bulletin’s grave, out there at the Finish of Things!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEE FFGG XXBB HHII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101110110111 01101110000111101 1101101010110101 1111011011100110101 1011011100101101 011111111010111001 11110110011111101 001001010100101101 011101101111110101 01001011001011111 111101001100111 00110110110111101 0110010110111110101 1011010011011100111 11110110111011101101 01001001011111111 111010101101001101 01101101111101 1101101101101101001 0100101001011011001 111111001101101101011 10110100100111101011 |
Characters | 1,680 |
Words | 307 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 57 |
Words per line (avg) | 14 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 312 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 76 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:32 min read
- 87 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Dirge of Joy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17704/a-dirge-of-joy>.
Discuss this Henry Lawson 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