Cry of the Homeless After the Prussian Invasion of Belgium
“INSTIGATOR of the ruin—Whichsoever thou mayst beOf the masterful of EuropeThat contrived our misery—Hear the wormwood-worded greetingFrom each city, shore, and leaOf thy victims:“Conqueror, all hail to thee!”
“Yea: ‘All hail!’ we grimly shout theeThat wast author, fount, and headOf these wounds, whoever provenWhen our times are throughly read.‘May thy loved be slighted, blighted,And forsaken,’ be it saidBy thy victims,‘And thy children beg their bread!’
“Nay: a richer malediction!—Rather let this thing befallIn time’s hurling and unfurlingOn the night when comes thy call;That compassion dew thy pillowAnd bedrench thy senses allFor thy victims,Till death dark thee with his pall.”
(in Memoriam F. W. G.)
ORION swung southward aslantWhere the starved Egdon pine-trees had thinned,The Pleiads aloft seemed to pantWith the heather that twitched in the wind;But he looked on indifferent to sights such as these,Unswayed by love, friendship, home joy or home sorrow,And wondered to what he would march on the morrow.
The crazed household-clock with its whirrRang midnight within as he stood,He heard the low sighing of herWho had striven from his birth for his good;But he still only asked the spring starlight, the breeze,What great thing or small thing his history would borrowFrom that Game with Death he would play on the morrow.
When the heath wore the robe of late summer,And the fuchsia-bells, hot in the sun,Hung red by the door, a quick comerBrought tidings that marching was doneFor him who had joined in that game overseasWhere Death stood to win, though his name was to borrowA brightness therefrom not to fade on the morrow.
Words in this poem 17
- whichsoever pron.
- Whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one (of two or more) which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.
- masterful a.
- Inclined to play the master; domineering; imperious; arbitrary.
- grimly a.
- Grim; hideous; stern.
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- malediction n.
- A proclaiming of evil against some one; a cursing; imprecation; a curse or execration; -- opposed to benediction. [L. maledictio: cf. F. malédiction. See Maledicent.]
- bedrench v. t.
- To drench; to saturate with moisture; to soak.
- orion n.
- A large and bright constellation on the equator, between the stars Aldebaran and Sirius. It contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.
- aslant adv.
- Toward one side; in a slanting direction; obliquely. [Pref. a- + slant.]
- pant v. i.
- To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
- whirr v. i.
- To whirl round, or revolve, with a whizzing noise; to fly or more quickly with a buzzing or whizzing sound; to whiz.
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- fuchsia n.
- A genus of flowering plants having elegant drooping flowers, with four sepals, four petals, eight stamens, and a single pistil. [NL. Named after Leonard Fuchs, a German botanist.]
- comer n.
- One who comes, or who has come; one who has arrived, and is present. All comers, all who come, or offer, to take part in a matter, especially in a contest or controversy.
- overseas adv.
- Over the sea; abroad. Milton.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cry of the Homeless After the Prussian Invasion of Belgium is in the public domain. This text is taken from Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #3255; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, Cry of the Homeless After the Prussian Invasion of Belgium, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/cry-of-the-homeless-after-the-prussian-invasion-of-belgium.html, id L24241.
Form and metre
Cry of the Homeless After the Prussian Invasion of Belgium is 46 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%).
See 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 -A---A-A ruin · beA · europe · misery · greeting · leaA · victims · theeA
- 2 -A-AAA-A thee · headA · proven · readA · blightedA · saidA · victims · breadA
- 3 -A-A-A-A malediction · befallA · unfurling · callA · pillow · allA · victims · pallA
- 5 ABAB-CC aslantA · thinnedB · pantA · windB · these · sorrowC · morrowC
- 6 ABAB--- whirrA · stoodB · herA · goodB · breeze · borrow · morrow
- 7 ABAB--- summerA · sunB · comerA · doneB · overseas · borrow · morrow
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “INSTIGATOR of the ruin— | 8 | /˘·˘··/˘ |
| Whichsoever thou mayst be | 6 | ······ |
| Of the masterful of Europe | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| That contrived our misery— | 8 | ·˘//˘/˘˘ |
| Hear the wormwood-worded greeting | 8 | ··/·/˘/˘ |
| From each city, shore, and lea | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of thy victims: | 4 | ··/˘ |
| “Conqueror, all hail to thee!” | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| “Yea: ‘All hail!’ we grimly shout thee | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| That wast author, fount, and head | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of these wounds, whoever proven | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| When our times are throughly read. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| ‘May thy loved be slighted, blighted, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And forsaken,’ be it said | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| By thy victims, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| ‘And thy children beg their bread!’ | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “Nay: a richer malediction!— | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Rather let this thing befall | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| In time’s hurling and unfurling | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| On the night when comes thy call; | 7 | ······· |
| That compassion dew thy pillow | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| And bedrench thy senses all | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| For thy victims, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Till death dark thee with his pall.” | 7 | ······· |
| (in Memoriam F. W. G.) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| ORION swung southward aslant | 8 | ˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Where the starved Egdon pine-trees had thinned, | 9 | ········· |
| The Pleiads aloft seemed to pant | 8 | ·/˘˘/··· |
| With the heather that twitched in the wind; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| But he looked on indifferent to sights such as these, | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| Unswayed by love, friendship, home joy or home sorrow, | 12 | ˘/··/˘····/˘ |
| And wondered to what he would march on the morrow. | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| The crazed household-clock with its whirr | 8 | ··/····· |
| Rang midnight within as he stood, | 8 | ·/······ |
| He heard the low sighing of her | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Who had striven from his birth for his good; | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| But he still only asked the spring starlight, the breeze, | 12 | ···/˘···/··· |
| What great thing or small thing his history would borrow | 12 | ·······/˘·/· |
| From that Game with Death he would play on the morrow. | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| When the heath wore the robe of late summer, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And the fuchsia-bells, hot in the sun, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| Hung red by the door, a quick comer | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Brought tidings that marching was done | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| For him who had joined in that game overseas | 11 | ········/˘/ |
| Where Death stood to win, though his name was to borrow | 12 | ··········/· |
| A brightness therefrom not to fade on the morrow. | 12 | ·/˘˘/·····/˘ |
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