Analysis of Land Mine
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
A grey gull hovered overhead,
Then wisely flew away.
'In half a jiffy you'll be dead,'
I thought I heard it say;
As there upon the railway line,
Checking an urge to cough,
I laboured to de-fuse the mine
That had not yet gone off.
I tapped around the time-clock rim,
Then something worried me.
I heard the singing of a hymn:
Nearer my God to Thee.
That damned Salvation Army band!
I phoned back to the boys:
'Please tell them,--they will understand,--
Cut out the bloody noise!'
Silence . . . I went to work anew,
And then I heard a tick
That told me the blast was due,--
I never ran so quick.
I heard the fury-roar behind;
The earth erupted hell,
As hoisted high and stunned and blind
Into a ditch I fell.
Then when at last I crawled from cover,
My hands were bloody raw;
And I was blue and bruised all over,
And this is what I saw:
All pale, but panting with elation,
And very much unstuck,
There was the Army of Salvation
Emerging from the muck.
And then I heard the Captain saying:
''Twas Heaven heard our pleas;
For there anight we all were praying
Down on our bended knees.
'Twas little hope your comrades gave you,
Though we had faith divine . . .
The blessed Lord stooped down to save you,
But Gosh! He cut it fine.'
Scheme | ABABCXCX DEDEFGFG HIHIJKJK LXLXMNMN OPOPHCHC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 01110101 110101 01010111 111111 1101011 101111 1111101 111111 11010111 110101 11010101 101111 11010101 111101 1111101 110101 10111101 011101 1110111 110111 11010101 01101 11010101 010111 111111110 110101 011101110 011111 111101010 010101 110101010 010101 011101010 1101101 11111010 1110101 11011111 111101 01111111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,392 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 85 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Land Mine" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32207/land-mine>.
Discuss this Robert William Service poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In