Analysis of Above Lavender Bay
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
’Tis glorious morning everywhere
Save where the alleys lie—
I see the fleecy steam jets bid
“Good morning” to the sky.
The gullies of the waratah
Are near, with fall and pool,
And by the shadowed western rocks
The bays are fresh and cool.
To “points” that hint of Italy—
Of Italy and Spain—
I see the busy ferry boats
Come nosing round again.
To the toy station down below
I see the toy trains run—
(I wonder when those ferry boats
Will get their business done?)
Above the Bay called Lavender
This bard is domiciled,
Where up through rich, dark greenery
The red-tiled roofs are piled—
(At least some are—I hope that soon
They all shall be red-tiled)—
A moonlight night in middle-age
That makes one feel a child.
Close over, to the nearer left—
That feels the ocean breeze—
A full moon in a dim blue sky
A church spire and dark trees.
And, further right, the harsher heights
Of Mosman, Double Bay,
And Rose Bay, with their scattered lights,
Have softened with the day.
And fair across to where we know
The shelving sea cliffs are—
The lighthouse, with a still faint glow,
Beneath a twinkling star.
Across the harbour from the right,
And fairly in a line,
The Clock-tower on the City Hall,
A ship-mast and a pine.
The pale and bright, yet dusky blue,
And crossed by fleecy bars,
Flings out the brilliant city lights,
The moonlight and the stars—
And like a transformation scene,
On sheet glass down below,
The fairy-lighted ferry boats
Are gliding to and fro.
Scheme | XABABCXCDXEXFGEG XBDHXHXH XIAIJKJK FLFLXMXM XNJNXFEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001010 110101 11010111 110101 010101 111101 01010101 011101 11111100 110001 11010101 110101 10110101 110111 11011101 111101 01011100 1111 11111100 011111 11111111 111111 0110101 111101 11010101 110101 01100111 011011 01010101 110101 01111101 110101 01011111 010111 0110111 0101001 01010101 010001 011010101 011001 0101111 011101 11010101 01001 0100101 111101 01010101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,455 |
Words | 267 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 227 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 68 Views
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"Above Lavender Bay" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17721/above-lavender-bay>.
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