Peace II
Let no man call me good. I am not blest.My single virtue is the end of crimes,I only am the period of unrest,The ceasing of the horrors of the times;My good is but the negative of ill,Such ill as bends the spirit with despair,Such ill as makes the nations’ soul stand stillAnd freeze to stone beneath its Gorgon glare.
Be blunt, and say that peace is but a stateWherein the active soul is free to move,And nations only show as mean or greatAccording to the spirit then they prove.--O which of ye whose battle-cry is HateWill first in peace dare shout the name of Love?
Words in this poem
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Peace II 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 II, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/peace-ii.html, id L21993.
Form and metre
Peace II 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 ABABCDCD blestA · crimesB · unrestA · timesB · illC · despairD · stillC · glareD
- 2 ABABAB stateA · moveB · greatA · proveB · hateA · loveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let no man call me good. I am not blest. | 10 | ·········· |
| My single virtue is the end of crimes, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| I only am the period of unrest, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The ceasing of the horrors of the times; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My good is but the negative of ill, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Such ill as bends the spirit with despair, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Such ill as makes the nations’ soul stand still | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And freeze to stone beneath its Gorgon glare. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Be blunt, and say that peace is but a state | 10 | ·········· |
| Wherein the active soul is free to move, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And nations only show as mean or great | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| According to the spirit then they prove.-- | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| O which of ye whose battle-cry is Hate | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Will first in peace dare shout the name of 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.