Analysis of The Bushfire - an Allegory



'Twas on the famous Empire run,
Whose sun does never set,
Whose grass and water, so they say,
Have never failed them yet --
They carry many million sheep,
Through seasons dry and wet.
They call the homestead Albion House,
And then, along with that,
There's Welshman's Gully, Scotchman's Hill,
And Paddymelon Flat:
And all these places are renowned
For making jumbacks fat.

And the out-paddocks -- holy frost!
There wouldn't be no sense
For me to try and tell you half --
They really are immense;
A man might ride for days and weeks
And never strike a fence.

But still for years they never had
Been known a sheep to lose;
Old Billy Gladstone managed it,
And you can bet your shoes
He'd scores of supers under him,
And droves of jackaroos.

Old Billy had an eagle eye,
And kept his wits about --
If any chaps got trespassing
He quickly cleared 'em out;
And coves that used to "work a cross",
They hated him, no doubt.

But still he managed it in style,
Until the times got dry,
And Billy gave the supers word
To see and mind their eye --
"If any paddocks gets a-fire
I'll know the reason why."

Now on this point old Bill was sure,
Because, for many a year,
Whenever times got dry at all,
As sure as you are here,
The Paddymelon Flat got burnt
Which Bill thought rather queer.

He sent his smartest supers there
To try and keep things right.
No use! The grass was always dry --
They'd go to sleep at night,
And when they woke they'd go and find
The whole concern alight.

One morning it was very hot --
The sun rose in a haze;
Old Bill was cutting down some trees
(One of his little ways);
A black boy came hot-foot to say
The Flat was in a blaze.

Old Bill he swears a fearful oath
And lets the tommy fall --
Says he: "'ll take this business up,
And fix it once for all;
If this goes on the cursed run
Will send us to the wall."

So he withdrew his trespass suits,
He'd one with Dutchy's boss --
In prosecutions criminal
He entered nolle pros.,
But these were neither here nor there --
They always meant a loss.

And off to Paddymelon Flat
He started double quick
Drayloads of men with lots of grog
Lest heat should make them sick,
And all the strangers came around
To see him do the trick.

And there the fire was flaming bright,
For miles and miles it spread,
And many a sheep and horse and cow
Were numbered with the dead --
The super came to meet Old Bill,
And this is what he said:

"No use, to try to beat it out,
'Twill dry you up like toast,
I've done as much as man can do,
Although I never boast;
I think you'd better chuck it up,
And let the jumbucks roast."

Then Bill said just two words: "You're sacked,"
And pitches off his coat,
And wrenches down a blue gum bough
And clears his manly throat,
And into it like threshing wheat
Right sturdily he smote.

And beat the blazing grass until
His shirt was dripping wet;
And all the people watched him there
To see what luck he'd get,
"Gosh! don't he make the cinders fly,"
And, Golly, don't he sweat!"

But though they worked like Trojans all,
The fire still went ahead
So far as you could see around,
The very skies were red,
Sometimes the flames would start afresh,
Just where they thought it dead.

His men, too, quarreled 'mongst themselves
And some coves gave it best
And some said, "Light a fire in front,
And burn from east to west" --
But Bill he still kept sloggin' in,
And never took no rest.

Then through the crowd a cornstalk kid
Come ridin' to the spot
Says he to Bill, "Now take a spell,
You're lookin' very 'ot,
And if you'll only listen, why,
I'll tell you what is what.

"These coves as set your grass on fire,
There ain't no mortal doubt,
I've seen 'em ridin' here and there,
And pokin' round about;
It ain't no use your workin' here,
Until you finds them out.

"See yonder, where you beat the fire --
It's blazin' up again,
And fires are starting right and left
On Tipperary Plain,
Beating them out is useless quite,
Unless Heaven sends the rain.

Then Bill, he turns upon the boy,
"Oh, hold your tongue, you pup!"
But a cinder blew across the creek


Scheme ABCBXBXDEDFD XGXGXG XHXHXC IJXJKJ XIXILI XMNOXM PQIQXQ RSXSCS XNTNAN XKXXPK DUXUFU QVWVEV JYXYTY XZWZXB EBPBIB NVFVXV X1 X1 X1 XRXXID LJPJOJ L2 X2 Q2 XTX
Poetic Form
Metre 110101001 111101 11010111 110111 11010101 110101 11011001 010111 111011 011 01110101 11011 0011101 110111 11110111 110101 01111101 010101 11111101 110111 1101101 011111 11110101 0111 11011101 011101 1101110 110111 01111101 110111 11110101 010111 01010101 110111 11011010 110101 11111111 0111001 01011111 111111 01111 111101 11110101 110111 1101111 111111 01111101 010101 11011101 011001 11110111 111101 01111111 011001 11110101 010101 11111101 011111 1111011 111101 1101111 11111 0010100 11011 11010111 11101 01111 110101 1111111 111111 01010101 111101 010101101 110111 010010101 010101 01011111 011111 11111111 111111 11111111 11101 11110111 01011 11111111 010111 01010111 011101 0011111 1111 01010101 111101 01010111 111111 11110101 010111 11111101 0101101 11111101 010101 01011101 111111 11110101 011111 011101001 011111 1111110 010111 1101011 11101 11111101 11101 01110101 111111 111111110 111101 1111101 01101 1111111 011111 110111010 11101 010110101 11001 10111101 0110101 11110101 111111 101010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 4,010
Words 776
Sentences 27
Stanzas 21
Stanza Lengths 12, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 3
Lines Amount 129
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 145
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

3:57 min read
83

Andrew Barton Paterson

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem. more…

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