The End of the Road
Two hundred leaguers and a halfWalked I, went I, paced I, tripped I,Marched I, held I, skelped I, slipped I,Pushed I, panted, swung and dashed I;Picked I, forded, swam and splashed I,Strolled I, climbed I, crawled and scrambled,Dropped and dipped I, ranged and rambled;Plodded I, hobbled I, trudged and tramped I,And in lonely spinnies camped I,And in haunted pinewoods slept I,Lingered, loitered, limped and crept I,Clambered, halted, stepped and leapt I;Slowly sauntered, roundly strode I,And ... (Oh! Patron saints and AngelsThat protect the four Evangels!And you Prophets vel majoresVel incerti, vel minores,Virgines ac confessoresChief of whose peculiar gloriesEst in Aula Regis stareAtque orare et exorareEt clamare et conclamareClamantes cum clamoribusPro Nobis Peccatoribus.)Let me not conceal it.... Rode I.(For who but critics could complainOf “riding” in a railway train?)Across the valley and the high-land,With all the world on either handDrinking when I had a mind to,Singing when I felt inclined to;Nor ever turned my face to homeTill I had slaked my heart at Rome.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- roundly adv.
- In a round form or manner.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The End of the Road 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, The End of the Road, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/the-end-of-the-road.html, id L21659.
Form and metre
The End of the Road is 33 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in trochaic 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------BB----CCCDD-EEFF--GG half · i · i · i · i · scrambledA · rambledA · i · i · i · i · i · i · angelsB · evangelsB · majores · minores · confessores · glories · stareC · exorareC · conclamareC · clamoribusD · peccatoribusD · i · complainE · trainE · landF · handF · to · to · homeG · romeG
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Two hundred leaguers and a half | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Walked I, went I, paced I, tripped I, | 8 | ········ |
| Marched I, held I, skelped I, slipped I, | 8 | ········ |
| Pushed I, panted, swung and dashed I; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Picked I, forded, swam and splashed I, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Strolled I, climbed I, crawled and scrambled, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Dropped and dipped I, ranged and rambled; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Plodded I, hobbled I, trudged and tramped I, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And in lonely spinnies camped I, | 8 | ··/˘··˘· |
| And in haunted pinewoods slept I, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Lingered, loitered, limped and crept I, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Clambered, halted, stepped and leapt I; | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Slowly sauntered, roundly strode I, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘·· |
| And ... (Oh! Patron saints and Angels | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| That protect the four Evangels! | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| And you Prophets vel majores | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Vel incerti, vel minores, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Virgines ac confessores | 7 | /˘//··· |
| Chief of whose peculiar glories | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Est in Aula Regis stare | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Atque orare et exorare | 7 | ······· |
| Et clamare et conclamare | 7 | ······· |
| Clamantes cum clamoribus | 7 | ······· |
| Pro Nobis Peccatoribus.) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Let me not conceal it.... Rode I. | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| (For who but critics could complain | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Of “riding” in a railway train?) | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Across the valley and the high-land, | 9 | ˘/·/˘···· |
| With all the world on either hand | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Drinking when I had a mind to, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Singing when I felt inclined to; | 8 | /˘···˘/· |
| Nor ever turned my face to home | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Till I had slaked my heart at Rome. | 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.