Triumph
This windy sunlit morning after rain,The wet bright laurel laughs with beckoning gleamIn the blown wood, whence breaks the wild white streamRushing and flashing, glorying in its gain;Nor swerves nor parts, but with a swift disdainO’erleaps the boulders lying in long dream,Lapped in cold moss; and in its joy doth seemA wood-born creature bursting from a chain.
And “Triumph, triumph, triumph!” is its hoarseFierce-whispered word. O fond, and dost not knowThy triumph on another wise must be,--To render all the tribute of thy force,And lose thy little being in the flowOf the unvaunting river toward the sea!
Words in this poem
- sunlit a.
- Lighted by the sun.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Triumph 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, Triumph, 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/triumph.html, id L22092.
Form and metre
Triumph is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABBAABBA rainA · gleamB · streamB · gainA · disdainA · dreamB · seemB · chainA
- 2 ABCABC hoarseA · knowB · beC · forceA · flowB · seaC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This windy sunlit morning after rain, | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| The wet bright laurel laughs with beckoning gleam | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In the blown wood, whence breaks the wild white stream | 10 | ·········· |
| Rushing and flashing, glorying in its gain; | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Nor swerves nor parts, but with a swift disdain | 10 | ········˘/ |
| O’erleaps the boulders lying in long dream, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Lapped in cold moss; and in its joy doth seem | 10 | ·········· |
| A wood-born creature bursting from a chain. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And “Triumph, triumph, triumph!” is its hoarse | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Fierce-whispered word. O fond, and dost not know | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thy triumph on another wise must be,-- | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| To render all the tribute of thy force, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And lose thy little being in the flow | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of the unvaunting river toward the sea! | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
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.