Ballade of the Heresiarchs
John Calvin whose peculiar fadIt was to call God murderous,Which further led that feverish cadTo burn alive the Servetus.The horrible Bohemian Huss,The tedious Wycliffe, where are they?But where is old Nestorius?The wind has blown them all away.
The Kohen out of NovdogradWho argued from the Roman Jus“Privata fasta nihil adRem nisi sint de sacribus.”And Hume, who made a dreadful fussAbout the Resurrection DayAnd said it was ridiculous--The wind has blown them all away.
Of Smith the gallant Mormon ladThat took of wives an over-plus:Johanna Southcott who was madAnd nasty Nietzsche, who was worse.Of Tolstoy, the Eccentric Russ,Our strong Posterity shall say:“Lord Jesus! What are these to us?The wind has blown them all away!”
Words in this poem
- nihil n.
- Nothing. Nihil album Etym: [L., white nothing] (Chem.), oxide of zinc. See under Zinc. [L.]
- nisi conj.
- Unless; if not. [L.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- fuss n.
- A tumult; a bustle; unnecessary or annoying ado about trifles. [Cf. Fusome.]
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
- russ n.
- A Russian, or the Russians.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade of the Heresiarchs is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #60663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Hilaire Belloc, Ballade of the Heresiarchs, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/ballade-of-the-heresiarchs.html, id L21707.
Form and metre
Ballade of the Heresiarchs is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABA-BC-C fadA · murderousB · cadA · servetus · hussB · theyC · nestorius · awayC
- 2 ABA-BCBC novdogradA · jusB · adA · sacribus · fussB · dayC · ridiculousB · awayC
- 3 ABA-BCBC ladA · plusB · madA · worse · russB · sayC · usB · awayC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| John Calvin whose peculiar fad | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| It was to call God murderous, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Which further led that feverish cad | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To burn alive the Servetus. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The horrible Bohemian Huss, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| The tedious Wycliffe, where are they? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But where is old Nestorius? | 7 | ······· |
| The wind has blown them all away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The Kohen out of Novdograd | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Who argued from the Roman Jus | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| “Privata fasta nihil ad | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Rem nisi sint de sacribus.” | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And Hume, who made a dreadful fuss | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| About the Resurrection Day | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And said it was ridiculous-- | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| The wind has blown them all away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Of Smith the gallant Mormon lad | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That took of wives an over-plus: | 8 | ········ |
| Johanna Southcott who was mad | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And nasty Nietzsche, who was worse. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of Tolstoy, the Eccentric Russ, | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| Our strong Posterity shall say: | 8 | /·˘/˘˘·· |
| “Lord Jesus! What are these to us? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The wind has blown them all away!” | 8 | ······˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.