On the Taking of Quebec, and Death of General Wolfe
AMIDST the clamour of exulting joys,Which triumph forces from the patriot heart,Grief dares to mingle her soul-piercing voice,And quells the raptures which from pleasures start.
O WOLFE! to thee a streaming flood of woe,Sighing we pay, and think e’en conquest dear;QUEBEC in vain shall teach our breast to glow,Whilst thy sad fate extorts the heart-wrung tear.
Alive the foe thy dreadful vigour fled,And saw thee fall with joy-pronouncing eyes:Yet they shall know thou conquerest, though dead—Since from thy tomb a thousand heroes rise!
Words in this poem
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- 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.]
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- 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,]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Taking of Quebec, and Death of General Wolfe is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Project Gutenberg ebook #3545; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Goldsmith, On the Taking of Quebec, and Death of General Wolfe, in Poems (1764–1774), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3545, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/goldsmith-poems/on-the-taking-of-quebec-and-death-of-general-wolfe.html, id L00426.
Form and metre
On the Taking of Quebec, and Death of General Wolfe is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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-A joys · heartA · voice · startA
- 2 ABAB woeA · dearB · glowA · tearB
- 3 ABAB fledA · eyesB · deadA · riseB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AMIDST the clamour of exulting joys, | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Which triumph forces from the patriot heart, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Grief dares to mingle her soul-piercing voice, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And quells the raptures which from pleasures start. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| O WOLFE! to thee a streaming flood of woe, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sighing we pay, and think e’en conquest dear; | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| QUEBEC in vain shall teach our breast to glow, | 10 | ˘/····/··· |
| Whilst thy sad fate extorts the heart-wrung tear. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Alive the foe thy dreadful vigour fled, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| And saw thee fall with joy-pronouncing eyes: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Yet they shall know thou conquerest, though dead— | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Since from thy tomb a thousand heroes rise! | 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.