Analysis of Out Back
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
The old year went, and the new returned, in the withering weeks of drought,
The cheque was spent that the shearer earned,
and the sheds were all cut out;
The publican's words were short and few,
and the publican's looks were black --
And the time had come, as the shearer knew, to carry his swag Out Back.
For time means tucker, and tramp you must,
where the scrubs and plains are wide,
With seldom a track that a man can trust, or a mountain peak to guide;
All day long in the dust and heat -- when summer is on the track --
With stinted stomachs and blistered feet,
they carry their swags Out Back.
He tramped away from the shanty there, when the days were long and hot,
With never a soul to know or care if he died on the track or not.
The poor of the city have friends in woe, no matter how much they lack,
But only God and the swagmen know how a poor man fares Out Back.
He begged his way on the parched Paroo and the Warrego tracks once more,
And lived like a dog, as the swagmen do, till the Western stations shore;
But men were many, and sheds were full, for work in the town was slack --
The traveller never got hands in wool,
though he tramped for a year Out Back.
In stifling noons when his back was wrung
by its load, and the air seemed dead,
And the water warmed in the bag that hung to his aching arm like lead,
Or in times of flood, when plains were seas,
and the scrubs were cold and black,
He ploughed in mud to his trembling knees, and paid for his sins Out Back.
He blamed himself in the year `Too Late' --
in the heaviest hours of life --
'Twas little he dreamed that a shearing-mate had care of his home and wife;
There are times when wrongs from your kindred come,
and treacherous tongues attack --
When a man is better away from home, and dead to the world, Out Back.
And dirty and careless and old he wore, as his lamp of hope grew dim;
He tramped for years till the swag he bore seemed part of himself to him.
As a bullock drags in the sandy ruts, he followed the dreary track,
With never a thought but to reach the huts when the sun went down Out Back.
It chanced one day, when the north wind blew
in his face like a furnace-breath,
He left the track for a tank he knew -- 'twas a short-cut to his death;
For the bed of the tank was hard and dry, and crossed with many a crack,
And, oh! it's a terrible thing to die of thirst in the scrub Out Back.
A drover came, but the fringe of law was eastward many a mile;
He never reported the thing he saw, for it was not worth his while.
The tanks are full and the grass is high in the mulga off the track,
Where the bleaching bones of a white man lie
by his mouldering swag Out Back.
For time means tucker, and tramp they must,
where the plains and scrubs are wide,
With seldom a track that a man can trust, or a mountain peak to guide;
All day long in the flies and heat the men of the outside track
With stinted stomachs and blistered feet
must carry their swags Out Back.
Scheme | axabcc deEcFc ggcc hhcxc xiixcc xjjxcc kkcc bllcc mmcxc deEcFc |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110010100100111 011110101 0010111 0110101 001101 00111101011101111 111100111 1010111 11001101111010111 111001011101101 11100101 1101111 1101101011010101 11001111111110111 01101011011101111 110100111011111 11111011001111 0110110111010101 1101001011100111 0100101101 11110111 010111111 11100111 00101001111110111 101111101 0010101 11011110010111111 110100111 001001011 11011101011111101 1111111101 0100101 10111001110110111 01001001111111111 1111101111110111 10101001011100101 11001111011011111 111110111 01110101 1101101111011111 10110111010111001 01101001111100111 0101101111101001 1101001111111111 011100111001101 1010110111 111111 111100111 1010111 11001101111010111 111001010110111 11100101 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 3,046 |
Words | 591 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 4, 5, 6, 6, 4, 5, 5, 6 |
Lines Amount | 53 |
Letters per line (avg) | 43 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 226 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:58 min read
- 51 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Out Back" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17881/out-back>.
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