The Trumpeter
Two ships, alone in sky and sea,Hang clinched, with crash and roar;There is but one--whiche’er it be--Will ever come to shore.
And will it be the grim black bulk,That towers so evil now?Or will it be The Grace of God,With the angel at her prow?
The man that breathes the battle’s breathMay live at last to know;But the trumpeter lies sick to deathIn the stifling dark below.
He hears the fight above him rave;He fears his mates must yield;He lies as in a narrow graveBeneath a battle-field.
His fate will fall before the ship’s,Whate’er the ship betide;He lifts the trumpet to his lipsAs though he kissed a bride.
“Now blow thy best, blow thy last,My trumpet, for the Right!”--He has sent his soul in one strong blast,To hearten them that fight.
Words in this poem
- trumpeter n.
- One who sounds a trumpet.
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
- hearten v. t.
- To encourage; to animate; to incite or stimulate the courage of; to embolden. [From Heart.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Trumpeter 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, The Trumpeter, 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/the-trumpeter.html, id L22047.
Form and metre
The Trumpeter is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB seaA · roarB · beA · shoreB
- 2 -A-A bulk · nowA · god · prowA
- 3 ABAB breathA · knowB · deathA · belowB
- 4 ABAB raveA · yieldB · graveA · fieldB
- 5 ABAB ship'sA · betideB · lipsA · brideB
- 6 ABAB lastA · rightB · blastA · fightB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Two ships, alone in sky and sea, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Hang clinched, with crash and roar; | 6 | ······ |
| There is but one--whiche’er it be-- | 8 | ········ |
| Will ever come to shore. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And will it be the grim black bulk, | 8 | ········ |
| That towers so evil now? | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Or will it be The Grace of God, | 8 | ········ |
| With the angel at her prow? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The man that breathes the battle’s breath | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May live at last to know; | 6 | ······ |
| But the trumpeter lies sick to death | 9 | ··/˘˘···· |
| In the stifling dark below. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| He hears the fight above him rave; | 8 | ········ |
| He fears his mates must yield; | 6 | ······ |
| He lies as in a narrow grave | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beneath a battle-field. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His fate will fall before the ship’s, | 8 | ········ |
| Whate’er the ship betide; | 7 | ˘˘/··˘/ |
| He lifts the trumpet to his lips | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As though he kissed a bride. | 6 | ······ |
| “Now blow thy best, blow thy last, | 7 | ······· |
| My trumpet, for the Right!”-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He has sent his soul in one strong blast, | 9 | ········· |
| To hearten them that fight. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.