Analysis of On the Wallaby
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Now the tent poles are rotting, the camp fires are dead,
And the possums may gambol in trees overhead;
I am humping my bluey far out on the land,
And the prints of my bluchers sink deep in the sand:
I am out on the wallaby humping my drum,
And I came by the tracks where the sundowners come.
It is nor'-west and west o'er the ranges and far
To the plains where the cattle and sheep stations are,
With the sky for my roof and the grass for my bunk,
And a calico bag for my damper and junk;
And scarcely a comrade my memory reveals,
Save the spiritless dingo in tow of my heels.
But I think of the honest old light of my home
When the stars hang in clusters like lamps from the dome,
And I think of the hearth where the dark shadows fall,
When my camp fire is built on the widest of all;
But I'm following Fate, for I know she knows best,
I follow, she leads, and it's nor'-west by west.
When my tent is all torn and my blankets are damp,
And the rising flood waters flow fast by the camp,
When the cold water rises in jets from the floor,
I lie in my bunk and I list to the roar,
And I think how to-morrow my footsteps will lag
When I tramp 'neath the weight of a rain-sodden swag.
Though the way of the swagman is mostly up-hill,
There are joys to be found on the wallaby still.
When the day has gone by with its tramp or its toil,
And your camp-fire you light, and your billy you boil,
There is comfort and peace in the bowl of your clay
Or the yarn of a mate who is tramping that way.
But beware of the town -- there is poison for years
In the pleasure you find in the depths of long beers;
For the bushman gets bushed in the streets of a town,
Where he loses his friends when his cheque is knocked down;
He is right till his pockets are empty, and then --
He can hump his old bluey up country again.
Scheme | AABBCC DDEEFF GGHHII JJKKXE LLMMNN OOPPQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011110011011 00101101101 11111011101 00111111001 11110100111 0111011011 1111011001001 101101001101 101111001111 00101111001 01001110001 1011001111 111101011111 101101011101 01110110111 1111011101011 111001111111 11011011111 111111011011 001011011101 101101001101 11011011101 01111101111 111101101101 10110111011 111111101001 101111111111 0111011011011 111001001111 101101111011 101101111011 001011001111 101011001101 111011111111 111111011001 111111011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,810 |
Words | 369 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 43 Views
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"On the Wallaby" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17876/on-the-wallaby>.
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