Analysis of Song of the Old Bullock-Driver
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
Far back in the days when the blacks used to ramble
In long single file ’neath the evergreen tree,
The wool-teams in season came down from Coonamble,
And journeyed for weeks on their way to the sea,
’Twas then that our hearts and our sinews were stronger,
For those were the days when the bushman was bred.
We journeyed on roads that were rougher and longer
Than roads where the feet of our grandchildren tread.
With mates who have gone to the great Never-Never,
And mates whom I’ve not seen for many a day,
I camped on the banks of the Cudgegong River
And yarned at the fire by the old bullock-dray.
I would summon them back from the far Riverina,
From days that shall be from all others distinct,
And sing to the sound of an old concertina
Their rugged old songs where strange fancies were linked.
We never were lonely, for, camping together,
We yarned and we smoked the long evenings away,
And little I cared for the signs of the weather
When snug in my hammock slung under the dray.
We rose with the dawn, were it ever so chilly,
When yokes and tarpaulins were covered with frost,
And toasted the bacon and boiled the black billy,
Where high on the camp-fire the branches were tossed.
On flats where the air was suggestive of ’possums,
And homesteads and fences were hinting of change,
We saw the faint glimmer of appletree blossoms
And far in the distance the blue of the range;
And here in the rain, there was small use in flogging
The poor, tortured bullocks that tugged at the load,
When down to the axles the waggons were bogging
And traffic was making a marsh of the road.
’Twas hard on the beasts on the terrible pinches,
Where two teams of bullocks were yoked to a load,
And tugging and slipping, and moving by inches,
Half-way to the summit they clung to the road.
And then, when the last of the pinches was bested,
(You’ll surely not say that a glass was a sin?)
The bullocks lay down ’neath the gum trees and rested —
The bullockies steered for the bar of the inn.
Then slowly we crawled by the trees that kept tally
Of miles that were passed on the long journey down.
We saw the wild beauty of Capertee Valley,
As slowly we rounded the base of the Crown.
But, ah! the poor bullocks were cruelly goaded
While climbing the hills from the flats and the vales;
’Twas here that the teams were so often unloaded
That all knew the meaning of ‘counting your bales.’
And, oh! but the best-paying load that I carried
Was one to the run where my sweetheart was nurse.
We courted awhile, and agreed to get married,
And couple our futures for better or worse.
And as my old feet grew too weary to drag on
The miles of rough metal they met by the way,
My eldest grew up and I gave him the waggon —
He’s plodding along by the bullocks to-day.
Scheme | ABABCDCDCECEFGFG CECEBHBH IJIJKLKL ILXLMFNF BFBFMONO PQPQFEFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110011011110 0110110101 0110101111 01011111101 1111010101010 11001101011 110111010010 11101110101 111111011010 01111111001 1110110110 011010101101 1110111011 11111111001 011011110010 11011111001 110010110010 11011011001 010111011010 11011011001 111010110110 110101011 010010010110 111011001001 111011010110 0101001011 1101101110 01001001101 010011111010 01101011101 11101001010 01011001101 11101101001 11111001101 010010010110 11101011101 01101101110 11011101101 010111011010 011101101 110111011110 11101101101 1101101110 11011001101 11011001010 11001101001 111010110010 11101011011 011011011110 1110111111 110010011110 010101011011 011111110111 01111011101 11011011101 11001101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,728 |
Words | 519 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 359 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 86 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:35 min read
- 70 Views
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"Song of the Old Bullock-Driver" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17923/song-of-the-old-bullock-driver>.
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