Arraignment
“Not ye who have stoned, not ye who have smitten us,” cryThe sad, great souls, as they go out hence into dark,“Not ye we accuse, though for you was our passion borne;And ye we reproach not, who silently passed us by.We forgive blind eyes and the ears that would not hark,The careless and causeless hate and the shallow scorn.
“But ye, who have seemed to know us, have seen and heard;Who have set us at feasts and have crowned with the costly rose;Who have spread us the purple of praises beneath our feet;Yet guessed not the word that we spake was a living word,Applauding the sound,--we account you as worse than foes!We sobbed you our message; ye said, ‘It is song, and sweet!’”
Words in this poem
- causeless a.
- 1. Self-originating; uncreated.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Arraignment is in the public domain. This text is taken from A chant of love for England, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #71425; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Gray Cone, Arraignment, in A Chant of Love for England, and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71425, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cone-chant-for-england/arraignment.html, id L22055.
Form and metre
Arraignment is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCABC.
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 ABCABC cryA · darkB · borneC · byA · harkB · scornC
- 2 ABCABC heardA · roseB · feetC · wordA · foesB · sweetC
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Not ye who have stoned, not ye who have smitten us,” cry | 13 | ·········/˘·· |
| The sad, great souls, as they go out hence into dark, | 12 | ············ |
| “Not ye we accuse, though for you was our passion borne; | 13 | ···˘/····//˘· |
| And ye we reproach not, who silently passed us by. | 12 | ···˘/··/˘··· |
| We forgive blind eyes and the ears that would not hark, | 12 | ·˘/········· |
| The careless and causeless hate and the shallow scorn. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘· |
| “But ye, who have seemed to know us, have seen and heard; | 12 | ············ |
| Who have set us at feasts and have crowned with the costly rose; | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Who have spread us the purple of praises beneath our feet; | 14 | ·····/˘·/˘··/· |
| Yet guessed not the word that we spake was a living word, | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| Applauding the sound,--we account you as worse than foes! | 13 | ˘/˘···˘/····· |
| We sobbed you our message; ye said, ‘It is song, and sweet!’” | 13 | ···//˘······· |
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.