Laurel · Stephen Vincent Benét · Young Adventure

The Planting of the Hemp

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) · 1918

iambic tetrameter · octosyllabic couplets · 52 lines · from Young Adventure

Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas(Black is the gap below the plank)From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees(Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank).

His fear was on the seaport towns,The weight of his hand held hard the downs.And the merchants cursed him, bitter and black,For a red flame in the sea-fog's wrackWas all of their ships that might come back.

For all he had one word alone,One clod of dirt in their faces thrown,"The hemp that shall hang me is not grown!"

His name bestrode the seas like Death.The waters trembled at his breath.

This is the tale of how he fell,Of the long sweep and the heavy swell,And the rope that dragged him down to hell.

The fight was done, and the gutted ship,Stripped like a shark the sea-gulls strip,

Lurched blindly, eaten out with flame,Back to the land from where she came,A skimming horror, an eyeless shame.

And Hawk stood upon his quarter-deck,And saw the sky and saw the wreck.

Below, a butt for sailors' jeers,White as the sky when a white squall nears,Huddled the crowd of the prisoners.

Over the bridge of the tottering plank,Where the sea shook and the gulf yawned blank,They shrieked and struggled and dropped and sank,

Pinioned arms and hands bound fast.One girl alone was left at last.

Sir Henry Gaunt was a mighty lord.He sat in state at the Council board;The governors were as nought to him.From one rim to the other rim

Of his great plantations, flung out wideLike a purple cloak, was a full month's ride.

Life and death in his white hands lay,And his only daughter stood at bay,Trapped like a hare in the toils that day.

He sat at wine in his gold and his lace,And far away, in a bloody place,Hawk came near, and she covered her face.

He rode in the fields, and the hunt was brave,And far away his daughter gaveA shriek that the seas cried out to hear,And he could not see and he could not save.

Her white soul withered in the mireAs paper shrivels up in fire,And Hawk laughed, and he kissed her mouth,And her body he took for his desire.

Words in this poem

cursed a.: Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
wrack n.: Wreck; ruin; destruction. [OE. wrak wreck. See Wreck.]
clod n.: A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
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,]
blindly adv.: Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
skimming n.: The act of one who skims.
eyeless a.: Without eyes; blind.
shook v. t.: To pack, as staves, in a shook.
pinioned a.: Having wings or pinions.
gaunt a.: Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
rode n.: Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Planting of the Hemp is in the public domain. This text is taken from Young Adventure: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #312; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Stephen Vincent Benét, The Planting of the Hemp, in Young Adventure (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #312, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/benet-young-adventure/the-planting-of-the-hemp.html, id L13389.

Form and metre

The Planting of the Hemp is 52 lines in 17 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 69% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ABAB seas^A · plank^B · caribbees^A · rank^B
2 AABBB towns^A · downs^A · black^B · wrack^B · back^B
3 AAA alone^A · thrown^A · grown^A
4 AA death^A · breath^A
5 AAA fell^A · swell^A · hell^A
6 AA ship^A · strip^A
7 AAA flame^A · came^A · shame^A
8 AA deck^A · wreck^A
9 AA- jeers^A · nears^A · prisoners
10 AAA plank^A · blank^A · sank^A
11 AA fast^A · last^A
12 AABB lord^A · board^A · him^B · rim^B
13 AA wide^A · ride^A
14 AAA lay^A · bay^A · day^A
15 AAA lace^A · place^A · face^A
16 AA-A brave^A · gave^A · hear · save^A
17 AA-A mire^A · fire^A · mouth · desire^A

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
Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas	7	/˘·····
(Black is the gap below the plank)	8	········
From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees	9	·········
(Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank).	8	········
His fear was on the seaport towns,	8	·····/··
The weight of his hand held hard the downs.	9	·········
And the merchants cursed him, bitter and black,	10	··/˘··/˘··
For a red flame in the sea-fog's wrack	9	·········
Was all of their ships that might come back.	9	·········
For all he had one word alone,	8	······˘/
One clod of dirt in their faces thrown,	9	······/˘·
"The hemp that shall hang me is not grown!"	9	·········
His name bestrode the seas like Death.	8	··˘/····
The waters trembled at his breath.	9	·/˘/˘˘···
This is the tale of how he fell,	8	········
Of the long sweep and the heavy swell,	9	······/˘·
And the rope that dragged him down to hell.	10	·····˘····
The fight was done, and the gutted ship,	9	······/˘·
Stripped like a shark the sea-gulls strip,	9	·˘·······
Lurched blindly, eaten out with flame,	9	·˘/˘/˘···
Back to the land from where she came,	8	········
A skimming horror, an eyeless shame.	9	·/˘/˘·/˘·
And Hawk stood upon his quarter-deck,	9	······/˘·
And saw the sky and saw the wreck.	8	········
Below, a butt for sailors' jeers,	8	·····/˘·
White as the sky when a white squall nears,	9	·········
Huddled the crowd of the prisoners.	10	/˘˘····/˘˘
Over the bridge of the tottering plank,	10	······/˘˘·
Where the sea shook and the gulf yawned blank,	10	········˘·
They shrieked and struggled and dropped and sank,	10	··˘·/˘····
Pinioned arms and hands bound fast.	7	/˘·····
One girl alone was left at last.	8	··˘/····
Sir Henry Gaunt was a mighty lord.	9	·/˘···/˘·
He sat in state at the Council board;	9	······/˘·
The governors were as nought to him.	9	·/˘˘·····
From one rim to the other rim	8	·····/˘·
Of his great plantations, flung out wide	9	····/˘···
Like a purple cloak, was a full month's ride.	10	··/˘······
Life and death in his white hands lay,	8	········
And his only daughter stood at bay,	9	··/˘/˘···
Trapped like a hare in the toils that day.	10	·˘········
He sat at wine in his gold and his lace,	10	··········
And far away, in a bloody place,	9	··˘/··/˘·
Hawk came near, and she covered her face.	10	·····/˘˘··
He rode in the fields, and the hunt was brave,	10	··········
And far away his daughter gave	8	··˘/·/˘·
A shriek that the seas cried out to hear,	9	·········
And he could not see and he could not save.	10	··········
Her white soul withered in the mire	9	···/˘˘···
As paper shrivels up in fire,	9	·/˘/˘··/˘
And Hawk laughed, and he kissed her mouth,	10	···˘···˘··
And her body he took for his desire.	11	··/˘····˘/˘

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.

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