The Militiaman
"O warrior with the burnished arms--With bullion cord and tassel--Pray tell me of the lurid charmsOf service and the fierce alarms:The storming of the castle,The charge across the smoking field,The rifles' busy rattle--What thoughts inspire the men who wieldThe blade--their gallant souls how steeledAnd fortified in battle."
"Nay, man of peace, seek not to knowWar's baleful fascination--The soldier's hunger for the foe,His dread of safety, joy to goTo court annihilation.Though calling bugles blow not now,Nor drums begin to beat yet,One fear unmans me, I'll allow,And poisons all my pleasure: HowIf I should get my feet wet!"
Words in this poem
- bullion n.
- Uncoined gold or silver in the mass. [Cf. OE. bullyon a hook used for fastening the dress, a button, stud, an embossed ornament of various kinds, e.g., on the cover of a book, on bridles or poitrels]
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- storming a.
- from Storm, v. Storming party (Mil.), a party assigned to the duty of making the first assault in storming a fortress.
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
- fascination n.
- The act of fascinating, bewhiching, or enchanting; enchantment; witchcraft; the exercise of a powerful or irresistible influence on the affections or passions; unseen, inexplicable influence. [L. fascinatio; cf. F. fascination.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Militiaman 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, The Militiaman, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/the-militiaman.html, id L28131.
Form and metre
The Militiaman is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAABCDCCD. 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 ABAABCDCCD armsA · tasselB · charmsA · alarmsA · castleB · fieldC · rattleD · wieldC · steeledC · battleD
- 2 ABAABCDCCD knowA · fascinationB · foeA · goA · annihilationB · nowC · yetD · allowC · howC · wetD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "O warrior with the burnished arms-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With bullion cord and tassel-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Pray tell me of the lurid charms | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of service and the fierce alarms: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The storming of the castle, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The charge across the smoking field, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The rifles' busy rattle-- | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| What thoughts inspire the men who wield | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The blade--their gallant souls how steeled | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fortified in battle." | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| "Nay, man of peace, seek not to know | 8 | ········ |
| War's baleful fascination-- | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The soldier's hunger for the foe, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| His dread of safety, joy to go | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To court annihilation. | 7 | ··˘·˘/˘ |
| Though calling bugles blow not now, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Nor drums begin to beat yet, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| One fear unmans me, I'll allow, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And poisons all my pleasure: How | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| If I should get my feet wet!" | 7 | ······· |
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.