To the Poet Before Battle
NOW, youth, the hour of thy dread passion comes:Thy lovely things must all be laid away;And thou, as others, must face the riven dayUnstirred by rattle of the rolling drums,Or bugles’ strident cry. When mere noise numbsThe sense of being, the fear-sick soul doth sway,Remember thy great craft’s honour, that they may sayNothing in shame of poets. Then the crumbsOf praise the little versemen joyed to takeShall be forgotten: then they must know we are,For all our skill in words, equal in mightAnd strong of mettle as those we honoured; makeThe name of poet terrible in just war,And like a crown of honour upon the fight.
Words in this poem
- strident a.
- Characterized by harshness; grating; shrill. [L. stridens, -entis, p.pr. of stridere to make a grating or creaking noise.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Poet Before Battle is in the public domain. This text is taken from Severn & Somme, Project Gutenberg ebook #63895; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ivor Gurney, To the Poet Before Battle, in Severn and Somme (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #63895, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gurney-severn-somme/to-the-poet-before-battle.html, id L02548.
Form and metre
To the Poet Before Battle is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBAC-DC-D comesA · awayB · dayB · drumsA · numbsA · swayB · sayB · crumbsA · takeC · are · mightD · makeC · war · fightD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| NOW, youth, the hour of thy dread passion comes: | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Thy lovely things must all be laid away; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And thou, as others, must face the riven day | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| Unstirred by rattle of the rolling drums, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Or bugles’ strident cry. When mere noise numbs | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The sense of being, the fear-sick soul doth sway, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Remember thy great craft’s honour, that they may say | 12 | ˘/˘···/˘···· |
| Nothing in shame of poets. Then the crumbs | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Of praise the little versemen joyed to take | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Shall be forgotten: then they must know we are, | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| For all our skill in words, equal in might | 10 | ··/···/˘·· |
| And strong of mettle as those we honoured; make | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| The name of poet terrible in just war, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And like a crown of honour upon the fight. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
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.