Analysis of Skaal
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
While they struggle on exhausted,
While they plough through bog and flood,
While they drag their sick and wounded
Where the tracks are drenched with blood;
While the Fates seemed joined to crush her
And her bravest hearts lie low,
I might sing one song for Russia,
Even though she be our foe.
Still be generous to foemen,
And have charity for all—
Right or wrong, fill up the wine cup;
‘Skaal!’ unto all brave men—‘Skaal!’
While they suffer, cold and hungry,
All the heart-break of defeat,
And the twice heroic rearguard
Grimly holds the grim retreat;
While they fight the last alive on
Fields where countless corpses are,
We might drop one tear for Ivan,
Dead for Russia and the Czar!
Sullen grief of boorish brother,
Sister’s scalding tears that flow,
Choking grief of grey-haired mother,
Father’s stony face bent low:
Hopeless stare of wife or daughter,
And the sweetheart dumb and white,
And the far-off fields of slaughter
Where their Ivan lies to-night.
Even England feared disaster,
With all Europe in despair,
In the days when Europe’s master
Baited Bruin in his lair.
Greater nations made submission,
And a tyrant’s yoke they earned;
But The Man with curbed ambition
Staggered back while Moscow burned,—
Burned to save the world from ruin
That dark winter long ago;
Ah! the gaunt and hunted Bruin
Hugged the tyrant in the snow!
We can cry the crimes of Russia,
Who know naught of Russia’s work—
We who died to conquer freemen,
We who fought to save the Turk.
Ah! we well may cant and cackle,
In the streets and in the clubs,
While the Russia that we know not
Licks her wounds and feeds her cubs.
But the Fates for ever beckon—
Every nation has its debt,
And her foes may have to reckon,
Reckon with ‘der Russland’ yet.
Through long ages slept the Dragon,
We have roused the ugly beast—
Russia still may stand the vanguard
Of the West against the East.
And though Ivan sees no farther
Than to-night through lurid gloom
Every hour he holds Port Arthur
May postpone the White Man’s doom.
Right or wrong—whate’er in future
May this blundering world befall,
Human kindness will survive it—
Brothers! ‘Skaal!’ to brave men, ‘Skaal!’
Scheme | AAAABCDCEFXC XGAGEHEH BCBCBIBI BJBJEKEK ECECDLEL XMXMENEN EOXOBPBP BFXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101010 1111101 11111010 1011111 10111110 0010111 11111110 10111101 1110011 0110011 11111011 1101111 11101010 1011101 0010101 1010101 11101011 1110101 11111110 1110001 10111010 1010111 10111110 1010111 10111110 001101 00111110 1110111 10101010 1110001 0011110 1010011 10101010 0010111 10111010 101111 11101110 1110101 10101010 1010001 11101110 111111 11111010 1111101 11111010 0010001 10101111 1010101 10111010 10010111 00111110 101111 11101010 1110101 1011101 1010101 01101110 1111101 1001011110 1010111 1111010 11100101 10101011 1011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,138 |
Words | 382 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 210 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 109 Views
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"Skaal" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17919/skaal>.
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