Arma Virumque
"Ours is a Christian Army"; so he saidA regiment of bangomen who led."And ours a Christian Navy," added heWho sailed a thunder-junk upon the sea.Better they know than men unwarlike doWhat is an army and a navy, too.Pray God there may be sent them by-and-byThe knowledge what a Christian is, and why.For somewhat lamely the conception runsOf a brass-buttoned Jesus firing guns.
Words in this poem
- lamely adv.
- An a lame, crippled, disabled, or imperfect manner; as, to walk lamely; a figure lamely drawn. [See Lame.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Arma Virumque is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, Arma Virumque, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/arma-virumque.html, id L27990.
Form and metre
Arma Virumque is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE saidA · ledA · heB · seaB · doC · tooC · byD · whyD · runsE · gunsE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Ours is a Christian Army"; so he said | 10 | /··/˘/˘··· |
| A regiment of bangomen who led. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| "And ours a Christian Navy," added he | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Who sailed a thunder-junk upon the sea. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Better they know than men unwarlike do | 10 | /˘········ |
| What is an army and a navy, too. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Pray God there may be sent them by-and-by | 10 | ·········· |
| The knowledge what a Christian is, and why. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| For somewhat lamely the conception runs | 10 | ·///˘·˘/˘· |
| Of a brass-buttoned Jesus firing guns. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
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.