Marshal Schwerin’s Grave
Thou didst fall in the field with thy silver hair,And a banner in thy hand;Thou wert laid to rest from thy battles there,By a proudly mournful band.
In the camp, on the steed, to the bugle’s blast,Thy long bright years had sped;And a warrior’s bier was thine at last,When the snows had crown’d thy head.
Many had fallen by thy side, old chief!Brothers and friends, perchance;But thou wert yet as the fadeless leaf,And light was in thy glance.
The soldier’s heart at thy step leapt high,And thy voice the war-horse knew;And the first to arm, when the foe was nigh,Wert thou, the bold and true.
Now may’st thou slumber--thy work is done--Thou of the well-worn sword!From the stormy fight in thy fame thou’rt gone,But not to the festal board.
The corn-sheaves whisper thy grave around,Where fiery blood hath flow’d:O lover of battle and trumpet-sound!Thou art couch’d in a still abode!
A quiet home from the noonday’s glare,And the breath of the wintry blast--Didst thou toil through the days of thy silvery hairTo win thee but this at last?
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- 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]
- fadeless a.
- Not liable to fade; unfading.
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Marshal Schwerin’s Grave 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, Marshal Schwerin’s Grave, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/marshal-schwerin-s-grave.html, id L19670.
Form and metre
Marshal Schwerin’s Grave is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 ABAB hairA · handB · thereA · bandB
- 2 ABAB blastA · spedB · lastA · headB
- 3 ABAB chiefA · perchanceB · leafA · glanceB
- 4 ABAB highA · knewB · nighA · trueB
- 5 -A-A done · swordA · gone · boardA
- 6 ABAB aroundA · flow'dB · soundA · abodeB
- 7 ABAB glareA · blastB · hairA · lastB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou didst fall in the field with thy silver hair, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And a banner in thy hand; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thou wert laid to rest from thy battles there, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| By a proudly mournful band. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In the camp, on the steed, to the bugle’s blast, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Thy long bright years had sped; | 6 | ······ |
| And a warrior’s bier was thine at last, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| When the snows had crown’d thy head. | 7 | ······· |
| Many had fallen by thy side, old chief! | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Brothers and friends, perchance; | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| But thou wert yet as the fadeless leaf, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And light was in thy glance. | 6 | ······ |
| The soldier’s heart at thy step leapt high, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And thy voice the war-horse knew; | 7 | ······· |
| And the first to arm, when the foe was nigh, | 10 | ·········· |
| Wert thou, the bold and true. | 6 | ······ |
| Now may’st thou slumber--thy work is done-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Thou of the well-worn sword! | 6 | ······ |
| From the stormy fight in thy fame thou’rt gone, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| But not to the festal board. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The corn-sheaves whisper thy grave around, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Where fiery blood hath flow’d: | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| O lover of battle and trumpet-sound! | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Thou art couch’d in a still abode! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A quiet home from the noonday’s glare, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And the breath of the wintry blast-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Didst thou toil through the days of thy silvery hair | 11 | ········/˘· |
| To win thee but this at last? | 7 | ······· |
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