Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;And Time the ruined bridge has sweptDown the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,We set to-day a votive stone;That memory may their deed redeem,When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dareTo die, and leave their children free,Bid Time and Nature gently spareThe shaft we raise to them and thee.
Words in this poem
- embattled a.
- Having indentations like a battlement.
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
- votive a.
- Given by vow, or in fulfillment of a vow; consecrated by a vow; devoted; as, votive offerings; a votive tablet. [L. votivus, fr. votum a vow: cf. F. votif. See Vow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/sung-at-the-completion-of-the-battle-monument-july-4-1837.html, id L07438.
Form and metre
Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837 is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB floodA · unfurledB · stoodA · worldB
- 2 ABAB sleptA · sleepsB · sweptA · creepsB
- 3 A-A- streamA · stone · redeemA · gone
- 4 ABAB dareA · freeB · spareA · theeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By the rude bridge that arched the flood, | 8 | ········ |
| Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Here once the embattled farmers stood | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| And fired the shot heard round the world. | 8 | ·/······ |
| The foe long since in silence slept; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And Time the ruined bridge has swept | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On this green bank, by this soft stream, | 8 | ········ |
| We set to-day a votive stone; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That memory may their deed redeem, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| When, like our sires, our sons are gone. | 8 | ··/·/··· |
| Spirit, that made those heroes dare | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| To die, and leave their children free, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Bid Time and Nature gently spare | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The shaft we raise to them and thee. | 8 | ········ |
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.