Our Hero
While the flames were madly roaring,With a courage grand and high,Forth he rushed unto our rescue,Strong to suffer, brave to die.
Helplessly the boat was drifting,Death was staring in each face,When he grasped the fallen rudder,Took the pilot's vacant place.
Could he save us? Would he save us?All his hope of life give o'er?Could he hold that fated vessel'Till she reached the nearer shore?
All our hopes and fears were centered'Round his strong, unfaltering hand;If he failed us we must perish,Perish just in sight of land.
Breathlessly we watched and waitedWhile the flames were raging fast;When our anguish changed to rapture--We were saved, yes, saved at last.
Never strains of sweetest musicBrought to us more welcome sound
Words in this poem
- madly adv.
- In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
- rushed a.
- Abounding or covered with rushes.
- breathlessly adv.
- In a breathless manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Our Hero is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #679; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Our Hero, in Poems (1854–1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #679, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/harper-poems/our-hero-2.html, id L10539.
Form and metre
Our Hero is 22 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 roaring · highA · rescue · dieA
- 2 -A-A drifting · faceA · rudder · placeA
- 4 -A-A centered · handA · perish · landA
- 5 -A-A waited · fastA · rapture · lastA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| While the flames were madly roaring, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With a courage grand and high, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Forth he rushed unto our rescue, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Strong to suffer, brave to die. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Helplessly the boat was drifting, | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| Death was staring in each face, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When he grasped the fallen rudder, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Took the pilot's vacant place. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Could he save us? Would he save us? | 8 | ········ |
| All his hope of life give o'er? | 7 | ······· |
| Could he hold that fated vessel | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| 'Till she reached the nearer shore? | 8 | ···˘·/˘· |
| All our hopes and fears were centered | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| 'Round his strong, unfaltering hand; | 8 | ········ |
| If he failed us we must perish, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Perish just in sight of land. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Breathlessly we watched and waited | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| While the flames were raging fast; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When our anguish changed to rapture-- | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| We were saved, yes, saved at last. | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Never strains of sweetest music | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Brought to us more welcome sound | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.