Analysis of Camped By The Creek
Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)
'All day a strong sun has been drinking
The ponds in the Wattletree Glen;
And now as they're puddles, I'm thinking
We were wise to head hitherwards, men!
The country is heavy to nor'ard,
But Lord, how you rattled along!
Jack's chestnut's best leg was put for'ard,
And the bay from the start galloped strong;
But for bottom, I'd stake my existence,
There's none of the lot like the mare;
For look! she has come the whole distance
With never the `turn of a hair'.
'But now let us stop, for the `super'
Will want us to-morrow by noon;
And as he can swear like a trooper,
We can't be a minute too soon.
Here, Dick, you can hobble the filly
And chestnut, but don't take a week;
And, Jack, hurry off with the billy
And fill it. We'll camp by the creek.'
So spoke the old stockman, and quickly
We made ourselves snug for the night;
The smoke-wreaths above us curled thickly,
For our pipes were the first thing a-light!
As we sat round a fire that only
A well-seasoned bushman can make,
Far forests grew silent and lonely,
Though the paw was astir in the brake,
But not till our supper was ended,
And not till old Bill was asleep,
Did wild things by wonder attended
In shot of our camping-ground creep.
Scared eyes from thick tuft and tree-hollow
Gleamed out thro' the forest-boles stark;
And ever a hurry would follow
Of fugitive feet in the dark.
While Dick and I yarned and talked over
Old times that had gone like the sun,
The wail of the desolate plover
Came up from the swamps in the run.
And sniffing our supper, elated,
From his den the red dingo crawled out;
But skulked in the darkness, and waited,
Like a cunning but cowardly scout.
Thereafter came sleep that soon falls on
A man who has ridden all day;
And when midnight had deepened the palls on
The hills, we were snoring away.
But ere we dozed off, the wild noises
Of forest, of fen, and of stream,
Grew strange, and were one with the voices
That died with a sweet semi-dream.
And the tones of the waterfall, blended
With the song of the wind on the shore,
Became a soft psalm that ascended,
Grew far, and we heard it no more.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEF FGHGIJIJ IKIKILILMNMNOPOP HQHQMRMRSTSTXUXUMVMV |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111110 010011 011110110 1011111 010110111 11111001 11111111 001101101 1110111010 11101101 111110110 11001101 11111101 11111011 011111010 11101011 111110010 0111101 011011010 01111101 110110010 110011101 011011110 1101001101 1111010110 01101011 110110010 10111001 1111010110 01111101 111110010 011101011 111110110 11101011 010010110 11001001 110110110 11111101 011010010 11101001 0101010010 111011011 110010010 101011001 010111111 01111011 011110011 01101001 111110110 11011011 110011010 11101101 001101010 101101101 010111010 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,091 |
Words | 395 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 8, 16, 20 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 402 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 98 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 46 Views
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"Camped By The Creek" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17461/camped-by-the-creek>.
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