The Victory
'We brav'd Life's storm together; while that Drone,'Your poor old Uncle, WALTER, liv'd alone.'He died the other day: when round his bed'No tender soothing tear Affection shed--'Affection! 'twas a plant he never knew;--'Why should he feast on fruits he never grew?'
WALTER caught fire: nor was he charm'd aloneWith conscious Truth's firm elevated tone;JANE from her seat sprang forward, half afraid,Attesting with a blush what Goody said.Her Lover took a more decided part:--(O! 'twas the very Chord that touch'd his heart,)--Alive to the best feelings man can prize,A Bridegroom's transport sparkled in his eyes;Love, conquering power, with unrestricted rangeSilenc'd the arguments of Time and Change;And led his vot'ry on, and bade him view,And prize the light-wing'd moments as they flew:
Words in this poem
- walter v. i.
- To roll or wallow; to welter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [See Welter.]
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- goody n.
- A bonbon, cake, or the like; -- usually in the pl.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Victory is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, The Victory, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-victory.html, id L09681.
Form and metre
The Victory is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AABBCC droneA · aloneA · bedB · shedB · knewC · grewC
- 2 AA--BBCCDDEE aloneA · toneA · afraid · said · partB · heartB · prizeC · eyesC · rangeD · changeD · viewE · flewE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'We brav'd Life's storm together; while that Drone, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| 'Your poor old Uncle, WALTER, liv'd alone. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'He died the other day: when round his bed | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| 'No tender soothing tear Affection shed-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| 'Affection! 'twas a plant he never knew;-- | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| 'Why should he feast on fruits he never grew?' | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| WALTER caught fire: nor was he charm'd alone | 10 | /˘·/····˘/ |
| With conscious Truth's firm elevated tone; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘· |
| JANE from her seat sprang forward, half afraid, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Attesting with a blush what Goody said. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Her Lover took a more decided part:-- | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| (O! 'twas the very Chord that touch'd his heart,)-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Alive to the best feelings man can prize, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| A Bridegroom's transport sparkled in his eyes; | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘··· |
| Love, conquering power, with unrestricted range | 10 | ·/˘/··˘/˘· |
| Silenc'd the arguments of Time and Change; | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| And led his vot'ry on, and bade him view, | 10 | ·········· |
| And prize the light-wing'd moments as they flew: | 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.