Andy's Gone with Cattle
Our Andy's gone to battle now'Gainst Drought, the red marauder;Our Andy's gone with cattle nowAcross the Queensland border.
He's left us in dejection now;Our hearts with him are roving.It's dull on this selection now,Since Andy went a-droving.
Who now shall wear the cheerful faceIn times when things are slackest?And who shall whistle round the placeWhen Fortune frowns her blackest?
Oh, who shall cheek the squatter nowWhen he comes round us snarling?His tongue is growing hotter nowSince Andy cross'd the Darling.
The gates are out of order now,In storms the 'riders' rattle;For far across the border nowOur Andy's gone with cattle.
Poor Aunty's looking thin and white;And Uncle's cross with worry;And poor old Blucher howls all nightSince Andy left Macquarie.
Oh, may the showers in torrents fall,And all the tanks run over;And may the grass grow green and tallIn pathways of the drover;
And may good angels send the rainOn desert stretches sandy;And when the summer comes againGod grant 'twill bring us Andy.
Words in this poem
- marauder n.
- A rover in quest of booty or plunder; a plunderer; one who pillages. De Quincey. [From Maraud, v.: cf. F. maraudeur.]
- dejection n.
- A casting down; depression. Hallywell. [L. dejectio a casting down: cf. F. déjection.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- blucher n.
- A kind of half boot, named from the Prussian general Blücher.
- drover n.
- One who drives cattle or sheep to market; one who makes it his business to purchase cattle, and drive them to market.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Andy's Gone with Cattle is in the public domain. This text is taken from In the Days When the World Was Wide, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #214; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Lawson, Andy's Gone with Cattle, in In the Days When the World Was Wide (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #214, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawson-world-was-wide/andy-s-gone-with-cattle.html, id L23209.
Form and metre
Andy's Gone with Cattle is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A- nowA · marauder · nowA · border
- 2 ABAB nowA · rovingB · nowA · drovingB
- 3 A-A- faceA · slackest · placeA · blackest
- 4 ABAB nowA · snarlingB · nowA · darlingB
- 5 ABAB nowA · rattleB · nowA · cattleB
- 6 A-A- whiteA · worry · nightA · macquarie
- 7 ABAB fallA · overB · tallA · droverB
- 8 ABAB rainA · sandyB · againA · andyB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Our Andy's gone to battle now | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| 'Gainst Drought, the red marauder; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Our Andy's gone with cattle now | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Across the Queensland border. | 7 | ˘/·/·/˘ |
| He's left us in dejection now; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Our hearts with him are roving. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| It's dull on this selection now, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Since Andy went a-droving. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Who now shall wear the cheerful face | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In times when things are slackest? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And who shall whistle round the place | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Fortune frowns her blackest? | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Oh, who shall cheek the squatter now | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When he comes round us snarling? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| His tongue is growing hotter now | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Since Andy cross'd the Darling. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The gates are out of order now, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In storms the 'riders' rattle; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| For far across the border now | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Our Andy's gone with cattle. | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Poor Aunty's looking thin and white; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And Uncle's cross with worry; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And poor old Blucher howls all night | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Since Andy left Macquarie. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Oh, may the showers in torrents fall, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And all the tanks run over; | 7 | ······· |
| And may the grass grow green and tall | 8 | ········ |
| In pathways of the drover; | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| And may good angels send the rain | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On desert stretches sandy; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| And when the summer comes again | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| God grant 'twill bring us Andy. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.