The Bleating Of The Sheep Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABBACCA DDDEEDFFD GGGFFGHHG HIFFIJJI KKLMMKFFK NNNFFNHH OOOJPOHHO AAAQQARRA AAASMAIIA TTTUVTVVT| Lo I listened to the bleating of the sheep | A |
| Squatters' sheep | A |
| And I sat me down and pondered long and deep | A |
| And a cloud of gloom came o'er me | B |
| At the empty leagues before me | B |
| Yea I marked the virgin grass lands' mighty sweep | A |
| Land that called for cultivation | C |
| Cried aloud for population | C |
| Land that carried trees and fences grass and sheep | A |
| - | |
| I listened to their bleating on the plain | D |
| Virgin plain | D |
| And I spoke to them with epithets profane | D |
| In the valley on the hill | E |
| Yet were sheep and more sheep still | E |
| Which annoyed me very much I must explain | D |
| For one sheep may he a blessing | F |
| But a million are depressing | F |
| And I cursed them but I knew I cursed in vain | D |
| - | |
| Lo and then I fell a dreaming where I sat | G |
| Sadly sat | G |
| Till I didn't see what I was looking at | G |
| And my dream was most alluring | F |
| Ah But had it been enduring | F |
| What a reckoning it would have been for Fat | G |
| What a blessing for Australia | H |
| If my dream but inter alia | H |
| I'll explain to you what I am driving at | G |
| - | |
| Lo excuse this weird redundancy of 'lo ' | - |
| Soulful 'lo' | H |
| But I want to be impressive you must know | I |
| Lo instead of jumbucks bleating | F |
| I could hear the reaper's beating | F |
| And I saw abundant milk and honey flow | I |
| I espied snug homesteads dotted | J |
| O'er the plain I also spotted | J |
| Towns with factories and workshops rise and grow | I |
| - | |
| Ay at busy line of commerce filled the place | K |
| Desert place | K |
| And mine eyes beheld a happy populace | L |
| Wresting from the land its treasure | M |
| Loving work and earning leisure | M |
| Industry and population grew apace | K |
| I could hear the hammers ringing | F |
| Happy housewives blithely singing | F |
| And I read Prosperity in every face | K |
| - | |
| Then I saw a file of troops go marching past | N |
| Bravely past | N |
| Adown the plain I heard the bugle's blast | N |
| I beheld the banners streaming | F |
| And I fancied in my dreaming | F |
| That our happy country owned an army vast | N |
| As each patriot marched proudly | H |
| By he cried exulting loudly | H |
| 'Fair Australia is safely ours at last ' | - |
| - | |
| Then a large red man rode up upon a horse | O |
| Large roan horse | O |
| And spoke to me in strident tones and coarse | O |
| And his discourse was diluted | J |
| 'Wanderers are prosecuted | P |
| On this crimson run Now get ' I got of course | O |
| As I've said the man was bulky | H |
| And he seemed morose and sulky | H |
| And it just occurred to me he might use force | O |
| - | |
| But in spite of him my dream I still may keep | A |
| Fondly keep | A |
| And from out it sprouts the wisdom that I reap | A |
| For the benefit of all men | Q |
| But especially of little men | Q |
| Meaning men whose wealth does not exceed one heap | A |
| Ay the lesson is before you | R |
| Pray forgive me if I bore you | R |
| But my brothers heed the lesson of the sheep | A |
| - | |
| For hark ye hear the bleating of the sheep | A |
| Human sheep | A |
| O my brothers but their sheephood makes me weep | A |
| Mark ye how they flock togeth | S |
| After some old sly bell wether | M |
| One that Fat finds it convenient to keep | A |
| Watch them how they follow follow | I |
| See the verbal weeds they swallow | I |
| And the squatter keeps his grass for paying sheep | A |
| - | |
| O the squatter has of woolly sheep a lot | T |
| Quite a lot | T |
| But they're not the only sort of sheep he's got | T |
| How he profits by their fleeces | U |
| And when price of meat decreases | V |
| Human meat the butcher Fat will take the lot | T |
| O ye farmers and selectors | V |
| Landless voters Free electors | V |
| Think my brothers are ye sheep or are ye not | T |
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
(1)
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