A Working Party Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGH IJKLMN JOPQRSTUVW AXYV ZA2B2C2D2E2F2 G2H2FI2J2HK2X L2VM2N2O2

Three hours ago he blundered up the trenchA
Sliding and poising groping with his bootsB
Sometimes he tripped and lurched against the wallsC
With hands that pawed the sodden bags of chalkD
He couldn't see the man who walked in frontE
Only he heard the drum and rattle of feetF
Stepping along barred trench boards often splashingG
Wretchedly where the sludge was ankle deepH
-
Voices would grunt 'Keep to your right make way '-
When squeezing past some men from the front lineI
White faces peered puffing a point of redJ
Candles and braziers glinted through the chinksK
And curtain flaps of dug outs then the gloomL
Swallowed his sense of sight he stooped and sworeM
Because a sagging wire had caught his neckN
-
A flare went up the shining whiteness spreadJ
And flickered upward showing nimble ratsO
And mounds of glimmering sand bags bleached with rainP
Then the slow silver moment died in darkQ
The wind came posting by with chilly gustsR
And buffeting at corners piping thinS
And dreary through the crannies rifle shotsT
Would split and crack and sing along the nightU
And shells came calmly through the drizzling airV
To burst with hollow bang below the hillW
-
Three hours ago he stumbled up the trenchA
Now he will never walk that road againX
He must be carried back a jolting lumpY
Beyond all need of tenderness and careV
-
He was a young man with a meagre wifeZ
And two small children in a Midland townA2
He showed their photographs to all his matesB2
And they considered him a decent chapC2
Who did his work and hadn't much to sayD2
And always laughed at other people's jokesE2
Because he hadn't any of his ownF2
-
That night when he was busy at his jobG2
Of piling bags along the parapetH2
He thought how slow time went stamping his feetF
And blowing on his fingers pinched with coldI2
He thought of getting back by half past twelveJ2
And tot of rum to send him warm to sleepH
In draughty dug out frowsty with the fumesK2
Of coke and full of snoring weary menX
-
He pushed another bag along the topL2
Craning his body outward then a flareV
Gave one white glimpse of No Man's Land and wireM2
And as he dropped his head the instant splitN2
His startled life with lead and all went outO2

Siegfried Sassoon



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