Analysis of The Shearers Dream

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



O I dreamt I shore in a shearing shed and it was a dream of joy
For every one of the rouseabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy
Dressed up like a page in a pantomime the prettiest ever seen
They had flaxen hair they had coal black hair and every shade between

There was short plump girls there was tall slim girls and the handsomest ever seen
They was four foot five they was six foot high and every shade between

The shed was cooled by electric fans that was over every shoot
The pens was of polished mahogany and everything else to suit
The huts had springs to the mattresses and the tucker was simply grand
And every night by the billabong we danced to a German band

Our pay was the wool on the jumbucks' backs so we shore till all was blue
The sheep was washed afore they was shore and the rams were scented too
And we all of us cried when the shed cut out in spite of the long hot days
For every hour them girls waltzed in with whisky and beer on trays

There was three of them girls to every chap and as jealous as they could be
There was three of them girls to every chap and six of them picked on me
We was drafting them out for the homeward track and sharing them round like steam
When I woke with my head in the blazing sun to find it a shearer's dream


Scheme AABB BB CCDD EEFF GGHH
Poetic Form
Metre 11111001010110111 1100110110111101 1110100100100101 1111111110100101 1111111111001101 11111111110100101 01111010111101001 0111100100010111 01111010000101101 010011011110101 10110110111111111 011111110010101 011111101110110111 11001011101100111 1111111100101101111 111111110010111111 111011101010101111 11111100101111011
Characters 1,252
Words 258
Sentences 1
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 2, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 56
Words per line (avg) 14
Letters per stanza (avg) 201
Words per stanza (avg) 51
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 08, 2023

1:17 min read
121

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson 17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922 was an Australian writer and poet Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period more…

All Henry Lawson poems | Henry Lawson Books

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