Analysis of Lest We Forget
Neil McLeod 1947 (Oxford)
Lest We Forget
The painting that hangs in the dining room,
Was his Grand Mother's, is what he said,
Depicting a man with a washing jug,
And a kufiya covering his head.
His beard overflows in its fullness,
Smile lines crinkling round his eyes,
Ready to help you wash your hands twice
Before breaking the Challah you prize.
That painting left by his Grandmother,
He brought from South Africa,
And the jug will remind him of all the traditions
Where ever he travels so far.
The handles are set at odd angles,
For ceremonial use,
When washing the hands before bread is broken,
Because you see, they are Jews.
For this is the way they have done it
Since Moses had written the law,
We keep the traditions and customs
Our parents taught us before.
There is the two handled water urn
With flowers beneath the fired glaze,
It serves as a symbol that we should keep
Precious for the rest of our days.
To appreciate this poem you may want to visit the Blogsite to see the image in question:
http://abitingchance.blogspot.com/2014/02/traditional-hand-washing-cup-poem.html
Scheme | X XAXAXBXB XXXXXXCX XDXXXEXE CD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101 0101100101 111101111 0100110101 00110011 11100110 111111 101111111 01100111 11011110 1111100 0011011110010 11011011 010111110 101001 11001011110 0111111 111011111 11011001 110010010 10101101 110110101 110010101 1110101111 101011101 10101101111100111010010 11010011011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,034 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 2 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 169 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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"Lest We Forget" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/76576/lest-we-forget>.
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