Analysis of A Duty Done - 1933
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)
A duty done ... What else was there to do?
A simple matter; and as simply solved.
His straight young mind worked straightly - worked as true
As ever youth's clean mind. Here no involved
And weighty pondering of faith or fact.
Duty demanded; and he leapt to act.
He leapt and died . . . Could he but tell it now,
There would, be sure, come no heroic tale.
'What else would any man do, any how?'
This thing cried to be done. How could he fail?
The cry; the danger; Duty's sudden call;
Then - well, a bit of bad luck. That was all.
They say that youth grows cynical: too prone
To weigh advantage; thro' some modern plan
Changed from the clear-eyed youth old days had known:
More of a crafty huckster, less a man.
They say - and they are answered by one youth,
Proving again one wholesome human truth.
A duty done; and valiantly done.
Tho' death came in the doing, yet, who knows
At what wise ordering? No living one
May say how kind death be to such as those
Youth, unjustified, triumphing on his way,
Quiet hero of this world of work-a-day.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII JKJKLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101111111 0101001101 111111111 1101111101 0101001111 1001001111 1101111111 1111110101 1111011101 1111111111 010101101 1101111111 1111110011 1101011101 1101111111 1101010101 1101110111 1001110101 010101001 1110010111 1111001101 1111111111 10101111 10101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,028 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 196 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 102 Views
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