Isandlwana
Scarlet coats, and crash o' the band,The grey of a pauper's gown,A soldier's grave in Zululand,And a woman in Brecon Town.
My little lad for a soldier boy,(Mothers o' Brecon Town!)My eyes for tears and his for joyWhen he went from Brecon Town,His for the flags and the gallant sightsHis for the medals and his for the fights,And mine for the dreary, rainy nightsAt home in Brecon Town.
They say he's laid beneath a tree,(Come back to Brecon Town!)Shouldn't I know? -- I was there to see:(It's far to Brecon Town!)It's me that keeps it trim and drestWith a briar there and a rose by his breast --The English flowers he likes the bestThat I bring from Brecon Town.
And I sit beside him -- him and me,(We're back to Brecon Town.)To talk of the things that used to be(Grey ghosts of Brecon Town);I know the look o' the land and sky,And the bird that builds in the tree near by,And times I hear the jackals cry,And me in Brecon Town.
Golden grey on miles of sandThe dawn comes creeping down;It's day in far off ZululandAnd night in Brecon Town.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- briar n.
- A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Isandlwana is in the public domain. This text is taken from In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John McCrae, Isandlwana, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/isandlwana.html, id L17034.
Form and metre
Isandlwana is 32 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCCB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB bandA · gownB · zululandA · townB
- 2 ABABCCCB boyA · townB · joyA · townB · sightsC · fightsC · nightsC · townB
- 3 ABABCCCB treeA · townB · seeA · townB · drestC · breastC · bestC · townB
- 4 ABABCCCB meA · townB · beA · townB · skyC · byC · cryC · townB
- 5 ABAB sandA · downB · zululandA · townB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Scarlet coats, and crash o' the band, | 8 | /˘······ |
| The grey of a pauper's gown, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A soldier's grave in Zululand, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And a woman in Brecon Town. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| My little lad for a soldier boy, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| (Mothers o' Brecon Town!) | 6 | /˘···· |
| My eyes for tears and his for joy | 8 | ········ |
| When he went from Brecon Town, | 7 | ······· |
| His for the flags and the gallant sights | 9 | ······/˘· |
| His for the medals and his for the fights, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And mine for the dreary, rainy nights | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| At home in Brecon Town. | 6 | ······ |
| They say he's laid beneath a tree, | 8 | ········ |
| (Come back to Brecon Town!) | 6 | ······ |
| Shouldn't I know? -- I was there to see: | 9 | /˘······· |
| (It's far to Brecon Town!) | 6 | ······ |
| It's me that keeps it trim and drest | 8 | ········ |
| With a briar there and a rose by his breast -- | 10 | ··/······· |
| The English flowers he likes the best | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| That I bring from Brecon Town. | 7 | ······· |
| And I sit beside him -- him and me, | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| (We're back to Brecon Town.) | 6 | ······ |
| To talk of the things that used to be | 9 | ········· |
| (Grey ghosts of Brecon Town); | 6 | ······ |
| I know the look o' the land and sky, | 9 | ········· |
| And the bird that builds in the tree near by, | 10 | ·········· |
| And times I hear the jackals cry, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And me in Brecon Town. | 6 | ······ |
| Golden grey on miles of sand | 7 | /˘····· |
| The dawn comes creeping down; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It's day in far off Zululand | 8 | ········ |
| And night in Brecon Town. | 6 | ······ |
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.