Thou Shalt Not Kill
I had grown weary of him; of his breathAnd hands and features I was sick to death.Each day I heard the same dull voice and tread;I did not hate him: but I wished him dead.And he must with his blank face fill my life--Then my brain blackened; and I snatched a knife.
But ere I struck, my soul's grey deserts throughA voice cried, 'Know at least what thing you do.''This is a common man: knowest thou, O soul,What this thing is? somewhere where seasons rollThere is some living thing for whom this manIs as seven heavens girt into a span,For some one soul you take the world away--Now know you well your deed and purpose. Slay!'
Then I cast down the knife upon the groundAnd saw that mean man for one moment crowned.I turned and laughed: for there was no one by--The man that I had sought to slay was I.
Words in this poem
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thou Shalt Not Kill is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wild Knight and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #12037; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: G. K. Chesterton, Thou Shalt Not Kill, in The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12037, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/chesterton-wild-knight/thou-shalt-not-kill.html, id L17131.
Form and metre
Thou Shalt Not Kill is 18 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 28% 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 AABBCC breathA · deathA · treadB · deadB · lifeC · knifeC
- 2 AABBCCDD throughA · doA · soulB · rollB · manC · spanC · awayD · slayD
- 3 AABB groundA · crownedA · byB · iB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I had grown weary of him; of his breath | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And hands and features I was sick to death. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Each day I heard the same dull voice and tread; | 10 | ·········· |
| I did not hate him: but I wished him dead. | 10 | ·········· |
| And he must with his blank face fill my life-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Then my brain blackened; and I snatched a knife. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But ere I struck, my soul's grey deserts through | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A voice cried, 'Know at least what thing you do.' | 10 | ·········· |
| 'This is a common man: knowest thou, O soul, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| What this thing is? somewhere where seasons roll | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| There is some living thing for whom this man | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Is as seven heavens girt into a span, | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| For some one soul you take the world away-- | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Now know you well your deed and purpose. Slay!' | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then I cast down the knife upon the ground | 10 | ·········· |
| And saw that mean man for one moment crowned. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I turned and laughed: for there was no one by-- | 10 | ·········· |
| The man that I had sought to slay was I. | 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.