That Warned the Writer When on Pilgrimage
Matutinus adest ubi Vesper, et accipiens teSaepe recusatum voces intelligit hospesRusticus ignotas notas, ac flumina tellusOccupat--In sancto tum, tum, stans Aede cavetoTonsuram Hirsuti Capitis, via namque pedestremFerrea praeveniens cursum, peregrine, laboremPro pietate tua inceptum frustratur, amoreAntiqui Ritus alto sub Numine Romae.
When early morning seems but eveAnd they that still refuse receive:When speech unknown men understand;And floods are crossed upon dry land.Within the Sacred Walls bewareThe Shaven Head that boasts of Hair,For when the road attains the railThe Pilgrim’s great attempt shall fail.
Words in this poem
- vesper n.
- The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
- peregrine a.
- Foreign; not native; extrinsic or from without; exotic. [Spelt also pelegrine.] [L. peregrinus. See Pilgrim.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- 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
That Warned the Writer When on Pilgrimage 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, That Warned the Writer When on Pilgrimage, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/that-warned-the-writer-when-on-pilgrimage.html, id L21660.
Form and metre
That Warned the Writer When on Pilgrimage is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ----AA-- te · hospes · tellus · caveto · pedestremA · laboremA · amore · romae
- 2 AABBCCDD eveA · receiveA · understandB · landB · bewareC · hairC · railD · failD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Matutinus adest ubi Vesper, et accipiens te | 15 | ········/˘····· |
| Saepe recusatum voces intelligit hospes | 12 | ············ |
| Rusticus ignotas notas, ac flumina tellus | 15 | ········//····· |
| Occupat--In sancto tum, tum, stans Aede caveto | 13 | ············· |
| Tonsuram Hirsuti Capitis, via namque pedestrem | 15 | ·········/˘···· |
| Ferrea praeveniens cursum, peregrine, laborem | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| Pro pietate tua inceptum frustratur, amore | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Antiqui Ritus alto sub Numine Romae. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| When early morning seems but eve | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And they that still refuse receive: | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| When speech unknown men understand; | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And floods are crossed upon dry land. | 8 | ········ |
| Within the Sacred Walls beware | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The Shaven Head that boasts of Hair, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For when the road attains the rail | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The Pilgrim’s great attempt shall fail. | 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.