Old Australian Ways Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCCD EFEFGHGGH IJIJKCKKC LCLCCCCCC MAMANONFO CCCCCDCCD PIPIQCQQC ICICRSTRSThe London lights are far abeam | A |
Behind a bank of cloud | B |
Along the shore the gaslights gleam | A |
The gale is piping loud | B |
And down the Channel groping blind | C |
We drive her through the haze | D |
Towards the land we left behind | C |
The good old land of 'never mind' | C |
And old Australian ways | D |
- | |
The narrow ways of English folk | E |
Are not for such as we | F |
They bear the long accustomed yoke | E |
Of staid conservancy | F |
But all our roads are new and strange | G |
And through our blood there runs | H |
The vagabonding love of change | G |
That drove us westward of the range | G |
And westward of the suns | H |
- | |
The city folk go to and fro | I |
Behind a prison's bars | J |
They never feel the breezes blow | I |
And never see the stars | J |
They never hear in blossomed trees | K |
The music low and sweet | C |
Of wild birds making melodies | K |
Nor catch the little laughing breeze | K |
That whispers in the wheat | C |
- | |
Our fathers came of roving stock | L |
That could not fixed abide | C |
And we have followed field and flock | L |
Since e'er we learnt to ride | C |
By miner's camp and shearing shed | C |
In land of heat and drought | C |
We followed where our fortunes led | C |
With fortune always on ahead | C |
And always further out | C |
- | |
The wind is in the barley grass | M |
The wattles are in bloom | A |
The breezes greet us as they pass | M |
With honey sweet perfume | A |
The parakeets go screaming by | N |
With flash of golden wing | O |
And from the swamp the wild ducks cry | N |
Their long drawn note of revelry | F |
Rejoicing at the Spring | O |
- | |
So throw the weary pen aside | C |
And let the papers rest | C |
For we must saddle up and ride | C |
Towards the blue hill's breast | C |
And we must travel far and fast | C |
Across their rugged maze | D |
To find the Spring of Youth at last | C |
And call back from the buried past | C |
The old Australian ways | D |
- | |
When Clancy took the drover's track | P |
In years of long ago | I |
He drifted to the outer back | P |
Beyond the Overflow | I |
By rolling plain and rocky shelf | Q |
With stockwhip in his hand | C |
He reached at last oh lucky elf | Q |
The Town of Come and help yourself | Q |
In Rough and ready Land | C |
- | |
And if it be that you would know | I |
The tracks he used to ride | C |
Then you must saddle up and go | I |
Beyond the Queensland side | C |
Beyond the reach of rule or law | R |
To ride the long day through | S |
In Nature's homestead filled with awe | T |
You then might see what Clancy saw | R |
And know what Clancy knew | S |
Banjo Paterson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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