The Working Party Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGH IJKLMN JOPQRSTUVW AXYV ZA2B2C2D2E2F2 G2H2FI2J2HK2X L2VM2N2O2Three hours ago he blundered up the trench | A |
Sliding and poising groping with his boots | B |
Sometimes he tripped and lurched against the walls | C |
With hands that pawed the sodden bags of chalk | D |
He couldn't see the man who walked in front | E |
Only he heard the drum and rattle of feet | F |
Stepping along barred trench boards often splashing | G |
Wretchedly where the sludge was ankle deep | H |
- | |
Voices would grunt Keep to your right make way ' | - |
When squeezing past some men from the front line | I |
White faces peered puffing a point of red | J |
Candles and braziers glinted through the chinks | K |
And curtain flaps of dug outs then the gloom | L |
Swallowed his sense of sight he stooped and swore | M |
Because a sagging wire had caught his neck | N |
- | |
A flare went up the shining whiteness spread | J |
And flickered upward showing nimble rats | O |
And mounds of glimmering sand bags bleached with rain | P |
Then the slow silver moment died in dark | Q |
The wind came posting by with chilly gusts | R |
And buffeting at the corners piping thin | S |
And dreary through the crannies rifle shots | T |
Would split and crack and sing along the night | U |
And shells came calmly through the drizzling air | V |
To burst with hollow bang below the hill | W |
- | |
Three hours ago he stumbled up the trench | A |
Now he will never walk that road again | X |
He must be carried back a jolting lump | Y |
Beyond all needs of tenderness and care | V |
- | |
He was a young man with a meagre wife | Z |
And two small children in a Midland town | A2 |
He showed their photographs to all his mates | B2 |
And they considered him a decent chap | C2 |
Who did his work and hadn't much to say | D2 |
And always laughed at other people's jokes | E2 |
Because he hadn't any of his own | F2 |
- | |
That night when he was busy at his job | G2 |
Of piling bags along the parapet | H2 |
He thought how slow time went stamping his feet | F |
And blowing on his fingers pinched with cold | I2 |
He thought of getting back by half past twelve | J2 |
And tot of rum to send him warm to sleep | H |
In draughty dug out frowsty with the fumes | K2 |
Of coke and full of snoring weary men | X |
- | |
He pushed another bag along the top | L2 |
Craning his body outward then a flare | V |
Gave one white glimpse of No Man's Land and wire | M2 |
And as he dropped his head the instant split | N2 |
His startled life with lead and all went out | O2 |
Siegfried Sassoon
(1)
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