Analysis of Trouble on the Selection

Henry Lawson 1867 (Grenfell) – 1922 (Sydney)



You lazy boy, you’re here at last,
You must be wooden-legged;
Now, are you sure the gate is fast
And all the sliprails pegged
And all the milkers at the yard,
The calves all in the pen?
We don’t want Poley’s calf to suck
His mother dry again.
And did you mend the broken rail
And make it firm and neat?
I s’pose you want that brindle steer
All night among the wheat.
And if he finds the lucerne patch,
He’ll stuff his belly full;
He’ll eat till he gets ‘blown’ on that
And busts like Ryan’s bull.

Old Spot is lost? You’ll drive me mad,
You will, upon my soul!
She might be in the boggy swamps
Or down a digger’s hole.
You needn’t talk, you never looked
You’d find her if you’d choose,
Instead of poking ’possum logs
And hunting kangaroos.

How came your boots as wet as muck?
You tried to drown the ants!
Why don’t you take your bluchers off,
Good Lord, he’s tore his pants!
Your father’s coming home to-night;
You’ll catch it hot, you’ll see.
Now go and wash your filthy face
And come and get your tea.


Scheme AXAXXBCBXDXDXEXE XFXFXGXG CHXHXIXI
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111 1111010 11110111 01011 0101101 011001 1111111 110101 01110101 011101 11111101 110101 01110101 111101 11111111 011101 11111111 110111 1110011 110101 1111101 110111 01110101 01001 11111111 111101 1111111 111111 11010111 111111 11011101 010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,022
Words 196
Sentences 15
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 16, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 253
Words per stanza (avg) 65
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

58 sec read
37

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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