Last Rites
By the mighty minster’s bell,Tolling with a sudden swell;By the colours half-mast high,O’er the sea hung mournfully;Know, a prince hath died!
By the drum’s dull muffled sound,By the arms that sweep the ground,By the volleying muskets’ tone,Speak ye of a soldier goneIn his manhood’s pride.
By the chanted psalm that fillsReverently the ancient hills,Learn, that from his harvests done,Peasants hear a brother onTo his last repose.
By the pall of snowy whiteThrough the yew-trees gleaming bright;By the garland on the bier,Weep! a maiden claims thy tear--Broken is the rose!
Which is the tenderest rite of all?--Buried virgin’s coronal,Requiem o’er the monarch’s head,Farewell gun for warrior dead,Herdsman’s funeral hymn?
Tells not each of human woe?Each of hope and strength brought low?Number each with holy things,If one chastening thought it bringsEre life’s day grow dim!
A custom still retained at rural funerals in some parts ofEngland and Wales.
Words in this poem
- reverently adv.
- In a reverent manner; in respectful regard.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- coronal a.
- Of or pertaining to a corona (in any of the senses). [L. coronalis: cf. F. coronal.]
- requiem n.
- A mass said or sung for the repose of a departed soul. [Acc. of L. requies rest, the first words of the Mass being "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine," give eternal rest to them, O lord; pref. re- re + quies quiet. S]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Last Rites is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Last Rites, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/last-rites.html, id L19383.
Form and metre
Last Rites is 32 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AA--- bellA · swellA · high · mournfully · died
- 2 AA--- soundA · groundA · tone · gone · pride
- 3 AA--- fillsA · hillsA · done · on · repose
- 4 AABB- whiteA · brightA · bierB · tearB · rose
- 5 --AA- all · coronal · headA · deadA · hymn
- 6 AABB- woeA · lowA · thingsB · bringsB · dim
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By the mighty minster’s bell, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Tolling with a sudden swell; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| By the colours half-mast high, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| O’er the sea hung mournfully; | 7 | ······· |
| Know, a prince hath died! | 5 | ····· |
| By the drum’s dull muffled sound, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| By the arms that sweep the ground, | 7 | ······· |
| By the volleying muskets’ tone, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Speak ye of a soldier gone | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In his manhood’s pride. | 5 | ··/·· |
| By the chanted psalm that fills | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Reverently the ancient hills, | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| Learn, that from his harvests done, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Peasants hear a brother on | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| To his last repose. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| By the pall of snowy white | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Through the yew-trees gleaming bright; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| By the garland on the bier, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Weep! a maiden claims thy tear-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Broken is the rose! | 5 | /˘··· |
| Which is the tenderest rite of all?-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Buried virgin’s coronal, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Requiem o’er the monarch’s head, | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| Farewell gun for warrior dead, | 7 | ·/··/˘· |
| Herdsman’s funeral hymn? | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Tells not each of human woe? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Each of hope and strength brought low? | 7 | ······· |
| Number each with holy things, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| If one chastening thought it brings | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ere life’s day grow dim! | 5 | ····· |
| A custom still retained at rural funerals in some parts of | 15 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘···· |
| England and Wales. | 4 | /˘·· |
Notes from the edition 1
Notes from The Poems of Felicia Hemans (Project Gutenberg #66785), largely Mrs Hemans's own.
- Stanza 3, line 2 A custom still retained at rural funerals in some parts of England and Wales.
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