Corporal Stare
Back from the line one night in June,I gave a dinner at Bethune--Seven courses, the most gorgeous mealMoney could buy or batman steal.Five hungry lads welcomed the fishWith shouts that nearly cracked the dish;Asparagus came with tender tops,Strawberries in cream, and mutton chops.Said Jenkins, as my hand he shook,"They'll put this in the history book."We bawled Church anthems in choroOf Bethlehem and Hermon snow,With drinking songs, a jolly soundTo help the good red Pommard round.Stories and laughter interspersed,We drowned a long La Bassée thirst--Trenches in June make throats damned dry.Then through the window suddenly,Badge, stripes and medals all complete,We saw him swagger up the street,Just like a live man--Corporal Stare!Stare! Killed last May at Festubert.Caught on patrol near the Boche wire,Tom horribly by machine-gun fire!He paused, saluted smartly, grinned,Then passed away like a puff of wind,Leaving us blank astonishment.The song broke, up we started, leantOut of the window--nothing there,Not the least shadow of Corporal Stare,Only a quiver of smoke that showedA fag-end dropped on the silent road.
Words in this poem 15
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- batman n.
- A weight used in the East, varying according to the locality; in Turkey, the greater batman is about 157 pounds, the lesser only a fourth of this; at Aleppo and Smyrna, the batman is 17 pounds. [Turk. batman.]
- cracked a.
- Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
- mutton n.
- A sheep. Chapman. [OE. motoun, OF. moton, molton, a sheep, wether, F. mouton, LL. multo, by transposition of l fr. L. mutilus mutilated. See Mutilate.]
- chops n.
- The jaws; also, the fleshy parts about the mouth. [See Chop a jaw.]
- jenkins n.
- name of contempt for a flatterer of persons high in social or official life; as, the Jenkins employed by a newspaper. [Colloq. Eng.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- bethlehem n.
- A hospital for lunatics; -- corrupted into bedlam. [Heb. b house of food; b house + lekhem food, lakham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of ]
- damned a.
- Sentenced to punishment in a future state; condemned; consigned to perdition.
- swagger v. i.
- To walk with a swaying motion; hence, to walk and act in a pompous, consequential manner. [Freq. of swag.]
- patrol v. i.
- To go the rounds along a chain of sentinels; to traverse a police district or beat. [F. patrouiller, O. & Prov. F. patrouiller to paddle, paw about, patrol, fr. patte a paw; cf. D. poot paw, G. pfote, and E. pat, v.]
- horribly adv.
- In a manner to excite horror; dreadfully; terribly.
- smartly adv.
- In a smart manner.
- astonishment n.
- The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense. [Cf. OF. est, F. étonnement.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Corporal Stare is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fairies and Fusiliers, Project Gutenberg ebook #10122; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Graves, Corporal Stare, in Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10122, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graves-fairies/corporal-stare.html, id L02448.
Form and metre
Corporal Stare is 32 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 69% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE--FFGG--HH--II----JJKK juneA · bethuneA · mealB · stealB · fishC · dishC · topsD · chopsD · shookE · bookE · choro · snow · soundF · roundF · interspersedG · thirstG · dry · suddenly · completeH · streetH · stare · festubert · wireI · fireI · grinned · wind · astonishment · leant · thereJ · stareJ · showedK · roadK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Back from the line one night in June, | 8 | ········ |
| I gave a dinner at Bethune-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Seven courses, the most gorgeous meal | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Money could buy or batman steal. | 8 | /˘···/·· |
| Five hungry lads welcomed the fish | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| With shouts that nearly cracked the dish; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Asparagus came with tender tops, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Strawberries in cream, and mutton chops. | 9 | /·˘···/˘· |
| Said Jenkins, as my hand he shook, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "They'll put this in the history book." | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We bawled Church anthems in choro | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of Bethlehem and Hermon snow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With drinking songs, a jolly sound | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To help the good red Pommard round. | 8 | ········ |
| Stories and laughter interspersed, | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| We drowned a long La Bassée thirst-- | 8 | ··˘····· |
| Trenches in June make throats damned dry. | 8 | /˘······ |
| Then through the window suddenly, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Badge, stripes and medals all complete, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| We saw him swagger up the street, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Just like a live man--Corporal Stare! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Stare! Killed last May at Festubert. | 8 | ········ |
| Caught on patrol near the Boche wire, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Tom horribly by machine-gun fire! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·/ |
| He paused, saluted smartly, grinned, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Then passed away like a puff of wind, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| Leaving us blank astonishment. | 8 | /˘··˘/˘˘ |
| The song broke, up we started, leant | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Out of the window--nothing there, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Not the least shadow of Corporal Stare, | 9 | ···/··/˘· |
| Only a quiver of smoke that showed | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| A fag-end dropped on the silent road. | 9 | ······/˘· |
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.