To Arcite at the Wars
A THOUSAND leagues of wind-blown space,A thousand leagues of sea,Half of the great earth’s hiding faceDivides mine eyes from thee;The world is strong, the waves are wide,But my good-will is stronger still,My love, than wind or tide.
These sentinels which Fate has setTo bar and hold me hereI make my errand-men, to getA message to thine ear.The winds shall waft, the waters bear,And spite of seas I, when I please,Can reach thee everywhere.
Prayers are like birds to find the way;Thoughts have a swifter flight;And mine stream forth to thee all day,Nor stop to rest by night.Like silent angels at thy sideThey stand unseen, they bend and lean,They bless and warn and guide.
There is no near, there is no far,There is no loss or change,To love which, like a fixèd star,Abideth in one range,And shines, and shines, with quenchless eyes,And sends long rays in many waysTo lighten distant skies.
Where sight is not, faith brighter burns;So faithfully I wait,Secure that loyal loving earnsIts guerdon soon or late,—Secure, though lacking word or sign,That thy true thought keeps as it oughtTryst with each thought of mine.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- quenchless a.
- Incapable of being quenched; inextinguishable; as, quenchless fire or fury.
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Arcite at the Wars 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, To Arcite at the Wars, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/to-arcite-at-the-wars.html, id L23407.
Form and metre
To Arcite at the Wars is 35 lines in 5 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABC-C spaceA · seaB · faceA · theeB · wideC · still · tideC
- 2 ABABC-C setA · hereB · getA · earB · bearC · please · everywhereC
- 3 ABABC-C wayA · flightB · dayA · nightB · sideC · lean · guideC
- 4 ABABC-C farA · changeB · starA · rangeB · eyesC · ways · skiesC
- 5 ABABC-C burnsA · waitB · earnsA · lateB · signC · ought · mineC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A THOUSAND leagues of wind-blown space, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A thousand leagues of sea, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Half of the great earth’s hiding face | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Divides mine eyes from thee; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The world is strong, the waves are wide, | 8 | ········ |
| But my good-will is stronger still, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My love, than wind or tide. | 6 | ······ |
| These sentinels which Fate has set | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| To bar and hold me here | 6 | ······ |
| I make my errand-men, to get | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A message to thine ear. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The winds shall waft, the waters bear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And spite of seas I, when I please, | 8 | ········ |
| Can reach thee everywhere. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Prayers are like birds to find the way; | 8 | ········ |
| Thoughts have a swifter flight; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And mine stream forth to thee all day, | 8 | ········ |
| Nor stop to rest by night. | 6 | ······ |
| Like silent angels at thy side | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| They stand unseen, they bend and lean, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| They bless and warn and guide. | 6 | ······ |
| There is no near, there is no far, | 8 | ········ |
| There is no loss or change, | 6 | ······ |
| To love which, like a fixèd star, | 7 | ······· |
| Abideth in one range, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| And shines, and shines, with quenchless eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sends long rays in many ways | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To lighten distant skies. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Where sight is not, faith brighter burns; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So faithfully I wait, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Secure that loyal loving earns | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Its guerdon soon or late,— | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Secure, though lacking word or sign, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| That thy true thought keeps as it ought | 8 | ········ |
| Tryst with each thought of mine. | 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.