Poem
Long years ago, when the Devil was looseAnd faith was sorely tried,Three monks of Basle went out to walkIn the quiet eventide.
A breeze as pure as the breath of HeavenBlew fresh through the cloister-shades,A sky as glad as the smile of HeavenBlushed rose o'er the minster-glades.
But scorning the lures of summer and sense,The monks passed on in their walk;Their eyes were abased, their senses slept,Their souls were in their talk.
In the tough grim talk of the monkish daysThey hammered and slashed about,--Dry husks of logic,--old scraps of creed,--And the cold gray dreams of doubt,--
And whether Just or JustifiedWas the Church's mystic Head,--And whether the Bread was changed to God,Or God became the Bread.
But of human hearts outside their wallsThey never paused to dream,And they never thought of the love of GodThat smiled in the twilight gleam.
As these three monks went bickering onBy the foot of a spreading tree,Out from its heart of verdurous gloomA song burst wild and free,--
A wordless carol of life and love,Of nature free and wild;And the three monks paused in the evening shade,Looked up at each other and smiled.
And tender and gay the bird sang on,And cooed and whistled and trilled,And the wasteful wealth of life and loveFrom his happy heart was spilled.
The song had power on the grim old monksIn the light of the rosy skies;And as they listened the years rolled back,And tears came into their eyes.
The years rolled back and they were young,With the hearts and hopes of men,They plucked the daisies and kissed the girlsOf dear dead summers again.
But the eldest monk soon broke the spell;"'Tis sin and shame," quoth he,"To be turned from talk of holy thingsBy a bird's cry from a tree.
"Perchance the Enemy of SoulsHath come to tempt us so.Let us try by the power of the Awful WordIf it be he, or no!"
To Heaven the three monks raised their hands;"We charge thee, speak!" they said,"By His dread Name who shall one day comeTo judge the quick and the dead,--
"Who art thou? Speak!" The bird laughed loud."I am the Devil," he said.The monks on their faces fell, the birdAway through the twilight sped.
A horror fell on those holy men(The faithful legends say),And one by one from the face of the earthThey pined and vanished away.
So goes the tale of the monkish books,The moral who runs may read,--He has no ears for Nature's voiceWhose soul is the slave of creed.
Not all in vain with beauty and loveHas God the world adorned;And he who Nature scorns and mocks,By Nature is mocked and scorned.
Words in this poem
- sorely adv.
- In a sore manner; grievously; painfully; as, to be sorely afflicted.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- eventide n.
- The time of evening; evening. [AS. æfentid. See Tide.]
- abased a.
- Lowered; humbled.
- monkish a.
- Like a monk, or pertaining to monks; monastic; as, monkish manners; monkish dress; monkish solitude.
- slashed a.
- Marked or cut with a slash or slashes; deeply gashed; especially, having long, narrow openings, as a sleeve or other part of a garment, to show rich lining or under vesture.
- verdurous a.
- Covered with verdure; clothed with the fresh green of vegetation; verdured; verdant; as, verdurous pastures.
- wordless a.
- Not using words; not speaking; silent; speechless.
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- 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
Poem is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, Poem, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/poem.html, id L21582.
Form and metre
Poem is 72 lines in 18 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 loose · triedA · walk · eventideA
- 2 ABAB heavenA · shadesB · heavenA · gladesB
- 3 -A-A sense · walkA · slept · talkA
- 4 -A-A days · aboutA · creed · doubtA
- 5 -A-A justified · headA · god · breadA
- 6 -A-A walls · dreamA · god · gleamA
- 7 -A-A on · treeA · gloom · freeA
- 8 -A-A love · wildA · shade · smiledA
- 9 -A-A on · trilledA · love · spilledA
- 10 -A-A monks · skiesA · back · eyesA
- 11 -A-A young · menA · girls · againA
- 12 -A-A spell · heA · things · treeA
- 13 -A-A souls · soA · word · noA
- 14 -A-A hands · saidA · come · deadA
- 15 -A-A loud · saidA · bird · spedA
- 16 -A-A men · sayA · earth · awayA
- 17 -A-A books · readA · voice · creedA
- 18 -A-A love · adornedA · mocks · scornedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Long years ago, when the Devil was loose | 9 | ··˘/··/·· |
| And faith was sorely tried, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Three monks of Basle went out to walk | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| In the quiet eventide. | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| A breeze as pure as the breath of Heaven | 9 | ········/ |
| Blew fresh through the cloister-shades, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A sky as glad as the smile of Heaven | 9 | ········/ |
| Blushed rose o'er the minster-glades. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But scorning the lures of summer and sense, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| The monks passed on in their walk; | 7 | ······· |
| Their eyes were abased, their senses slept, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| Their souls were in their talk. | 6 | ······ |
| In the tough grim talk of the monkish days | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They hammered and slashed about,-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Dry husks of logic,--old scraps of creed,-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And the cold gray dreams of doubt,-- | 7 | ······· |
| And whether Just or Justified | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was the Church's mystic Head,-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And whether the Bread was changed to God, | 9 | ········· |
| Or God became the Bread. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| But of human hearts outside their walls | 9 | ··/˘·//·· |
| They never paused to dream, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And they never thought of the love of God | 9 | ··/······ |
| That smiled in the twilight gleam. | 7 | ····/·· |
| As these three monks went bickering on | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By the foot of a spreading tree, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Out from its heart of verdurous gloom | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| A song burst wild and free,-- | 6 | ······ |
| A wordless carol of life and love, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Of nature free and wild; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And the three monks paused in the evening shade, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Looked up at each other and smiled. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And tender and gay the bird sang on, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And cooed and whistled and trilled, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And the wasteful wealth of life and love | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| From his happy heart was spilled. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The song had power on the grim old monks | 9 | ···/····· |
| In the light of the rosy skies; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And as they listened the years rolled back, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And tears came into their eyes. | 7 | ······· |
| The years rolled back and they were young, | 8 | ········ |
| With the hearts and hopes of men, | 7 | ······· |
| They plucked the daisies and kissed the girls | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Of dear dead summers again. | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| But the eldest monk soon broke the spell; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| "'Tis sin and shame," quoth he, | 6 | ······ |
| "To be turned from talk of holy things | 9 | ······/˘· |
| By a bird's cry from a tree. | 7 | ······· |
| "Perchance the Enemy of Souls | 8 | ˘/·/˘˘·· |
| Hath come to tempt us so. | 6 | ······ |
| Let us try by the power of the Awful Word | 11 | ·····/··/˘· |
| If it be he, or no!" | 6 | ······ |
| To Heaven the three monks raised their hands; | 8 | ·/······ |
| "We charge thee, speak!" they said, | 6 | ······ |
| "By His dread Name who shall one day come | 9 | ········· |
| To judge the quick and the dead,-- | 7 | ······· |
| "Who art thou? Speak!" The bird laughed loud. | 8 | ········ |
| "I am the Devil," he said. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The monks on their faces fell, the bird | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Away through the twilight sped. | 7 | ˘/··/·· |
| A horror fell on those holy men | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| (The faithful legends say), | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And one by one from the face of the earth | 10 | ·········· |
| They pined and vanished away. | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| So goes the tale of the monkish books, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The moral who runs may read,-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| He has no ears for Nature's voice | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whose soul is the slave of creed. | 7 | ······· |
| Not all in vain with beauty and love | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Has God the world adorned; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And he who Nature scorns and mocks, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By Nature is mocked and scorned. | 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.