Peace I
I am as awful as my brother War,I am the sudden silence after clamour.I am the face that shows the seamy scarWhen blood has lost its frenzy and its glamour.Men in my pause shall know the cost at lastThat is not to be paid in triumphs or tears,Men will begin to judge the thing that’s pastAs men will judge it in a hundred years.
Nations! whose ravenous engines must be fedEndlessly with the father and the son,My naked light upon your darkness, dread!--By which ye shall behold what ye have done:Whereon, more like a vulture than a dove,Ye set my seal in hatred, not in love.
Words in this poem
- clamour n.
- A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. [OF. clamour, clamur, F. clameur, fr. L. clamor, fr. clamare to cry out. See Claim.]
- seamy a.
- Having a seam; containing seams, or showing them.
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- 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,]
- endlessly adv.
- In an endless manner.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Peace I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56244; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Farjeon, Peace I, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/peace-i.html, id L21992.
Form and metre
Peace I is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. 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 -A-ABCBC war · clamourA · scar · glamourA · lastB · tearsC · pastB · yearsC
- 2 ABABCC fedA · sonB · dreadA · doneB · doveC · loveC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I am as awful as my brother War, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I am the sudden silence after clamour. | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| I am the face that shows the seamy scar | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When blood has lost its frenzy and its glamour. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Men in my pause shall know the cost at last | 10 | ·········· |
| That is not to be paid in triumphs or tears, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Men will begin to judge the thing that’s past | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| As men will judge it in a hundred years. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nations! whose ravenous engines must be fed | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Endlessly with the father and the son, | 10 | /˘˘··/˘··· |
| My naked light upon your darkness, dread!-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| By which ye shall behold what ye have done: | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Whereon, more like a vulture than a dove, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Ye set my seal in hatred, not in love. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.