Greenwich Hospital
Come to these peaceful seats, and think no moreOf cold, of midnight watchings, or the roarOf Ocean, tossing on his restless bed!Come to these peaceful seats, ye who have bledFor honour, who have traversed the great flood,Or on the battle's front with stern eye stood,When rolled its thunder, and the billows redOft closed, with sudden flashings, o'er the dead!Oh, heavy are the sorrows that besetOld age! and hard it is--hard to forgetThe sunshine of our youth, our manhood's pride!But here, O aged men! ye may abideSecure, and see the last light on the waveOf Time, which wafts you silent to your grave;Like the calm evening ray, that smiles sereneUpon the tranquil Thames, and cheers the sinking scene.
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Greenwich Hospital is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Lisle Bowles, Greenwich Hospital, in Sonnets, and Other Poems (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/greenwich-hospital.html, id L09937.
Form and metre
Greenwich Hospital is 16 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 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 56% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCBBDDEEFFGG moreA · roarA · bedB · bledB · floodC · stoodC · redB · deadB · besetD · forgetD · prideE · abideE · waveF · graveF · sereneG · sceneG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come to these peaceful seats, and think no more | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of cold, of midnight watchings, or the roar | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Of Ocean, tossing on his restless bed! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Come to these peaceful seats, ye who have bled | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For honour, who have traversed the great flood, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Or on the battle's front with stern eye stood, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When rolled its thunder, and the billows red | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Oft closed, with sudden flashings, o'er the dead! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Oh, heavy are the sorrows that beset | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Old age! and hard it is--hard to forget | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The sunshine of our youth, our manhood's pride! | 10 | ·/··/·//·· |
| But here, O aged men! ye may abide | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Secure, and see the last light on the wave | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Of Time, which wafts you silent to your grave; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like the calm evening ray, that smiles serene | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Upon the tranquil Thames, and cheers the sinking scene. | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
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.