Analysis of The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak

Archibald MacLeish 1892 (Glencoe) – 1982 (Boston)



The young dead soldiers do not speak.

Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?

They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.

They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.

They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.

They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.

They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.

They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.

We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.


Scheme X XA XX XB XX XX XA XXX XB
Poetic Form
Metre 01110111 00111100110 11111 11010111111 01011 11101111 0101 11111111 10111101111 1111101011011110 111111011 111011110111 1111111 1110101010101 1001111101101 1111111 11110111110 101111110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 742
Words 148
Sentences 15
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 63
Words per stanza (avg) 16
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

44 sec read
527

Archibald MacLeish

Archibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. more…

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