Ballade to Our Lady of Czestochowa
Lady and Queen and Mystery manifoldAnd very Regent of the untroubled sky,Whom in a dream St Hilda did beholdAnd heard a woodland music passing by:You shall receive me when the clouds are highWith evening and the sheep attain the fold.This is the faith that I have held and hold,And this is that in which I mean to die.
Steep are the seas and savaging and coldIn broken waters terrible to try;And vast against the winter night the wold,And harbourless for any sail to lie.But you shall lead me to the lights, and IShall hymn you in a harbour story told.This is the faith that I have held and hold,And this is that in which I mean to die.
Help of the half-defeated, House of gold,Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory;Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled,The Battler’s vision and the World’s reply.You shall restore me, O my last Ally,To vengeance and the glories of the bold.This is the faith that I have held and hold,And this is that in which I mean to die.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade to Our Lady of Czestochowa 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 to Our Lady of Czestochowa, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/ballade-to-our-lady-of-czestochowa.html, id L21701.
Form and metre
Ballade to Our Lady of Czestochowa is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBAAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABBAAB manifoldA · skyB · beholdA · byB · highB · foldA · holdA · dieB
- 2 ABABBAAB coldA · tryB · woldA · lieB · iB · toldA · holdA · dieB
- 3 A-ABBAAB goldA · ivory · aureoledA · replyB · allyB · boldA · holdA · dieB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lady and Queen and Mystery manifold | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| And very Regent of the untroubled sky, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| Whom in a dream St Hilda did behold | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And heard a woodland music passing by: | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| You shall receive me when the clouds are high | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| With evening and the sheep attain the fold. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| This is the faith that I have held and hold, | 10 | ·········· |
| And this is that in which I mean to die. | 10 | ·········· |
| Steep are the seas and savaging and cold | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| In broken waters terrible to try; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| And vast against the winter night the wold, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And harbourless for any sail to lie. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But you shall lead me to the lights, and I | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall hymn you in a harbour story told. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| This is the faith that I have held and hold, | 10 | ·········· |
| And this is that in which I mean to die. | 10 | ·········· |
| Help of the half-defeated, House of gold, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory; | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘˘ |
| Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled, | 10 | /˘˘/˘/·/˘˘ |
| The Battler’s vision and the World’s reply. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| You shall restore me, O my last Ally, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| To vengeance and the glories of the bold. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| This is the faith that I have held and hold, | 10 | ·········· |
| And this is that in which I mean to die. | 10 | ·········· |
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