The Better Way
WHO serves his country best?Not he who, for a brief and stormy space,Leads forth her armies to the fierce affray.Short is the time of turmoil and unrest,Long years of peace succeed it and replace:There is a better way.
Who serves his country best?Not he who guides her senates in debate,And makes the laws which are her prop and stay;Not he who wears the poet’s purple vest,And sings her songs of love and grief and fate:There is a better way.
He serves his country best,Who joins the tide that lifts her nobly on;For speech has myriad tongues for every day,And song but one; and law within the breastIs stronger than the graven law on stone:There is a better way.
He serves his country bestWho lives pure life, and doeth righteous deed,And walks straight paths, however others stray,And leaves his sons as uttermost bequestA stainless record which all men may read:This is the better way.
No drop but serves the slowly lifting tide,No dew but has an errand to some flower,No smallest star but sheds some helpful ray,And man by man, each giving to all the rest,Makes the firm bulwark of the country’s power:There is no better way.
Words in this poem
- turmoil v. t.
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- vest n.
- An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- graven p. p.
- Carved. Graven image, an idol; an object of worship carved from wood, stone, etc.
- uttermost a.
- Extreme; utmost; being; in the farthest, greatest, or highest degree; as, the uttermost extent or end. [From Utter, a.; cf. Utmost, and Outermost.]
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
- bulwark n.
- A rampart; a fortification; a bastion or outwork. [Akin to D. bolwerk, G. bollwerk, Sw. bolwerk, Dan. bolvärk, bulvärk, rampart; akin to G. bohle plank, and werk work, defense. See Bole stem, and Work, n., and c]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Better Way is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, The Better Way, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/the-better-way.html, id L23413.
Form and metre
The Better Way is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABCABC, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 AB-AB- bestA · spaceB · affray · unrestA · replaceB · way
- 2 ABCABC bestA · debateB · stayC · vestA · fateB · wayC
- 3 A-BA-B bestA · on · dayB · breastA · stone · wayB
- 4 ABCABC bestA · deedB · strayC · bequestA · readB · wayC
- 5 -AB-AB tide · flowerA · rayB · rest · powerA · wayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHO serves his country best? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Not he who, for a brief and stormy space, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Leads forth her armies to the fierce affray. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Short is the time of turmoil and unrest, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Long years of peace succeed it and replace: | 10 | ····˘/···/ |
| There is a better way. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who serves his country best? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Not he who guides her senates in debate, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And makes the laws which are her prop and stay; | 10 | ·········· |
| Not he who wears the poet’s purple vest, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And sings her songs of love and grief and fate: | 10 | ·········· |
| There is a better way. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He serves his country best, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who joins the tide that lifts her nobly on; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For speech has myriad tongues for every day, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And song but one; and law within the breast | 10 | ·········· |
| Is stronger than the graven law on stone: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| There is a better way. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He serves his country best | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who lives pure life, and doeth righteous deed, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And walks straight paths, however others stray, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And leaves his sons as uttermost bequest | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| A stainless record which all men may read: | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| This is the better way. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No drop but serves the slowly lifting tide, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| No dew but has an errand to some flower, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| No smallest star but sheds some helpful ray, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And man by man, each giving to all the rest, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Makes the firm bulwark of the country’s power: | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| There is no better way. | 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.