Analysis of The Motor Car
Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)
The motor car is sullen, like a thing that should not be;
The motor car is master of Smart Society.
’Twas born of sweated genius and collared by a clown;
’Twas planned by Retribution to ride its riders down.
And straight for Caesar’s Column,
It runs to Caesar’s Column,
Last section, Caesar’s Column
To ride its riders down!
The motor car is shame-struck, for greed and misery,
For mad and hopeless self-lust, and the sins that need not be.
The motor car is vicious, for its conscience makes it so,
It aye would smash the victims while it runs the riders low.
And straight for Caesar’s Column,
Its goal is Caesar’s Column,
It longs for Caesar’s Column
To lay its riders low.
The motor car is maddened like a horse that’s had a fright,
The shameful day behind it and the Coming of the Night!
It flees across the country and it flees back to the town
And straight for Caesar’s Column to run its riders down.
And straight for Caesar’s Column,
What ho! for Caesar’s Column!
Hurrah! for Caesar’s Column!
To seal its riders down.
The motor car is reckless like a gambler losing fast;
The motor car’s in terror of the Future—and the Past;
The motor car is worn out and has passed Sin’s boundary by,
And is bound for Caesar’s Column where to pile its riders high.
It’s bound for Caesar’s Column
And marked for Caesar’s Column,
And doomed for Caesar’s Column
To pile its riders high.
The motor car is brainless, and scornful of all tears,
Its dust is in our faces, its giggle in our ears,
Its harsh laugh is the last laugh of the last lost soul alone,
’Tis nearing Caesar’s Column to set self-damned in stone.
Change here for Caesar’s Column!
All out for Caesar’s Column!
Past Hope—and Caesar’s Column
To lodge self-damned in stone.
I don’t know how ’twill happen, or when ’twill come to pass,
But folk shall yet pass sanely by river, tree and grass;
By homesteads and farm wagons, they’ll ride each pleasant mile,
And back from Caesar’s Column where the world went mad awhile.
And back from Caesar’s Column
With lessons from the Column;
Grown sane at Caesar’s Column
To save the world awhile.
Scheme | aabbCccb aaddCccd eebbCccb ffggcccg xxhhccch iijjcccj |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011101011111 0101110110100 1111010010101 111010111101 0111010 1111010 1101010 111101 0101111110100 11010110011111 01011101110111 11110101110101 0111010 1111010 1111010 111101 0101111011101 01010110010101 11010100111101 0111010111101 0111010 1111010 0111010 111101 01011101010101 01010101010001 010111101111001 011110101111101 1111010 0111010 0111010 111101 0101110010111 111010101100101 11110111011101 1101010111101 1111010 1111010 1101010 111101 1111110111111 111111110101 110110111101 01110101011101 0111010 1101010 1111010 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,113 |
Words | 378 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 270 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 08, 2023
- 1:53 min read
- 104 Views
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"The Motor Car" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18049/the-motor-car>.
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