Poet Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson

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Eureka Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGFFHHII JJGGGGGGGGGGKKLLGG MNNLLHHGGOOGGPPOOGG QQLLRRGGSSTTGG QULL

Roll up Eureka's heroes on that grand Old Rush afarA
For Lalor's gone to join you in the big camp where you areA
Roll up and give him welcome such as only diggers canB
For well he battled for the rights of miner and of ManB
In that bright golden country that lies beyond our sightC
The record of his honest life shall be his Miner's RightC
But many a bearded mouth shall twitch and many a tear be shedD
And many a grey old digger sigh to hear that Lalor's deadD
Yet wipe your eyes old fossickers o'er worked out fields that roamE
You need not weep at parting from a digger going homeE
Now from the strange wild seasons past the days of golden strifeF
Now from the Roaring Fifties comes a scene from Lalor's lifeF
All gleaming white amid the shafts o'er gully hill and flatG
Again I see the tents that form the camp at BallaratG
I hear the shovels and the picks and all the air is rifeF
With the rattle of the cradles and the sounds of digger lifeF
The clatter of the windlass boles as spinning round they goH
And then the signal to his mate the digger's cry BelowH
From many a busy pointing forge the sound of labour swellsI
The tinkling of the anvils is as clear as silver bellsI
I hear the broken English from the mouth of many a oneJ
From every state and nation that is known beneath the sunJ
The homely tongue of Scotland and the brogue of Ireland blendG
With the dialects of England right from Berwick to Lands EndG
And to the busy concourse here the States have sent a partG
The land of gulches that has been immortalised by HarteG
The land where long from mining camps the blue smoke upward curledG
The land that gave the Partner true and Mliss unto the worldG
The men from all the nations in the New World and the OldG
All side by side like brethren here are delving after goldG
But suddenly the warning cries are heard on every sideG
As closing in around the field a ring of troopers rideG
Unlicensed diggers are the game their class and want are sinsK
And so with all its shameful scenes the digger hunt beginsK
The men are seized who are too poor the heavy tax to payL
Chained man to man as convicts were and dragged in gangs awayL
Though in the eyes of many a man the menace scarce was hidG
The diggers' blood was slow to boil but scalded when it didG
-
But now another match is lit that soon must fire the chargeM
Roll up Roll up the poignant cry awakes the evening airN
And angry faces surge like waves around the speakers thereN
What are our sins that we should be an outlawed class they sayL
Shall we stand by while mates are seized and dragged like lags awayL
Shall insult be on insult heaped Shall we let these things goH
And with a roar of voices comes the diggers' answer NoH
The day has vanished from the scene but not the air of nightG
Can cool the blood that ebbing back leaves brows in anger whiteG
Lo from the roof of Bentley's Inn the flames are leaping highO
They write Revenge in letters red across the smoke dimmed skyO
To arms To arms the cry is out To arms and play your partG
For every pike upon a pole will find a tyrant's heartG
Now Lalor comes to take the lead the spirit does not lagP
And down the rough wild diggers kneel beneath the Diggers' FlagP
Then rising to their feet they swear while rugged hearts beat highO
To stand beside their leader and to conquer or to dieO
Around Eureka's stockade now the shades of night close fastG
Three hundred sleep beside their arms and thirty sleep their lastG
-
About the streets of Melbourne town the sound of bells is borneQ
That call the citizens to prayer that fateful Sabbath mornQ
But there upon Eureka's hill a hundred miles awayL
The diggers' forms lie white and still above the blood stained clayL
The bells that toll the diggers' death might also ring a knellR
For those few gallant soldiers dead who did their duty wellR
The sight of murdered heroes is to hero hearts a goadG
A thousand men are up in arms upon the Creswick roadG
And wildest rumours in the air are flying up and downS
'Tis said the men of Ballarat will march on Melbourne townS
But not in vain those diggers died Their comrades may rejoiceT
For o'er the voice of tyranny is heard the people's voiceT
It says Reform your rotten law the diggers' wrongs make rightG
Or else with them our brothers now we'll gather to the fightG
-
'Twas of such stuff the men were made who saw our nation bornQ
And such as Lalor were the men who led the vanguard onU
And like such men may we be found with leaders such as theyL
In the roll up of Australians on our darkest grandest dayL

Henry Lawson



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