Analysis of To The Irish Dead
George Essex Evans 1863 (London) – 1909 (Toowoomba)
’TIS a green isle set in a silver water,
A fairy isle where the shamrock grows.
Land of Legend, the Dream-Queen’s daughter—
Out of the Fairies’ hands She rose.
They touched Her harp with a tender sighing,
A spirit-song from a world afar,
They touched Her heart with a fire undying
To fight and follow Her battle-star.
Too long, too long thro’ the grey years growing
Feud and faction have swept between
The Thistledown and the red Rose blowing
And the three-fold leaf of the Shamrock green;
But the seal of blood, ye shall break it never:
With rifles grounded and bare of head
We drink to the dead who live forever
A silent toast—To the Irish dead!
’Tis an Irish cheer on the hillside ringing,
Where, checked and broken, the vanguards reel,
But on and upward and forward swinging,
The glittering line of the Irish steel!
Like points of light ’mid the boulders lying
Gleam and redden their bayonets keen.
On, thro’ the hell of their dead and dying,
Forward, forward, the Shamrock green!
To Ireland, set in the silver water,
To the fighting blood that is proved and tried—
Our sharpest sword and our fairest daughter—
Who saved the Empire and turned the tide!
And Wisdom comes as the days grow older,
We are done with the faults of the past, I ween,
Standing together, shoulder to shoulder,
The Thistle, the Rose, and the Shamrock green!
Scheme | ABABCDCDCECEAFAF CGCGCECE AHAHAEAE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111001010 01011011 111001110 11010111 1101101010 010110101 11011010010 110100101 1111101110 10101101 01001110 001111011 10111111110 110100111 1110111010 010110101 1110110110 11010011 1101001010 0100110101 1111101010 10101101 1101111010 1010011 11001001010 1010111101 101010101010 1101000101 0101101110 11110110111 1001010110 010010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,336 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 349 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 79 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 52 Views
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"To The Irish Dead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14997/to-the-irish-dead>.
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