Analysis of The Song of Australia

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



The centuries found me to nations unknown –
My people have crowned me and made me a throne;
My royal regalia is love, truth, and light –
A girl called Australia – I've come to my right.

Though no fields of conquest grew red at my birth,
My dead were the noblest and bravest on earth;
Their strong sons are worthy to stand with the best –
My brave Overlanders ride west of the west.

My cities are seeking the clean and the right;
My Statesmen are speaking in London to-night;
The voice of my Bushmen is heard oversea;
My army and navy are coming to me.

By all my grim headlands my flag is unfurled,
My artists and singers are charming the world;
The White world shall know its young outpost with pride;
The fame of my poets goes ever more wide.

By old tow'r and steeple of nation grown grey
The name of my people is spreading to-day;
Through all the old nations my learners go forth;
My youthful inventors are startling the north.

In spite of all Asia, and safe from her yet,
Through wide Australasia my standards I'll set;
A grand world and bright world to rise in an hour –
The Wings of the White world, the Balance of Power.

Through storm, or serenely – whate'er I go through –
God grant I be queenly! God grant I be true!
To suffer in silence, and strike at a sign,
Till all the fair islands of these seas are mine.


Scheme AABB CCDD BBEE FFGG HHII JJKK LLMM
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 01001111001 11011101101 11001011101 01101011111 11111011111 11001001011 11111011101 11111101 11011001001 11011001011 0111101101 11001011011 1111111101 11001011001 0111111111 01111011011 111101011011 01111011011 11011011011 11001011001 01111001101 1101011011 011011110110 011011010110 111010010111 1111111111 11001001101 11011011111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,340
Words 256
Sentences 10
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 146
Words per stanza (avg) 36
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 09, 2023

1:18 min read
94

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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