The Bed of Heath
“Soldier, awake! the night is past;Hear’st thou not the bugle’s blast?Feel’st thou not the dayspring’s breath?Rouse thee from thy bed of heath!Arm, thou bold and strong!Soldier! what deep spell hath bound thee?Fiery steeds are neighing round thee--Banners to the fresh wind play:Rise, and arm--’tis day,’tis day!And thou hast slumber’d long.”
“Brother! on the heathery leaLonger yet my sleep must be;Though the morn of battle rise,Darkly night rolls o’er my eyes--Brother, this is death!Call me not when bugles sound,Call me not when wine flows round;Name me but amidst the brave,Give me but a soldier’s grave--But my bed of heath!”
Words in this poem
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- heathery a.
- Heathy; abounding in heather; of the nature of heath.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bed of Heath 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, The Bed of Heath, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-bed-of-heath.html, id L19690.
Form and metre
The Bed of Heath is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 AA--BCCDDB pastA · blastA · breath · heath · strongB · theeC · theeC · playD · dayD · longB
- 2 AABB-CCDD- leaA · beA · riseB · eyesB · death · soundC · roundC · braveD · graveD · heath
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Soldier, awake! the night is past; | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| Hear’st thou not the bugle’s blast? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Feel’st thou not the dayspring’s breath? | 7 | ······· |
| Rouse thee from thy bed of heath! | 7 | ······· |
| Arm, thou bold and strong! | 5 | ····· |
| Soldier! what deep spell hath bound thee? | 8 | /˘······ |
| Fiery steeds are neighing round thee-- | 8 | /˘······ |
| Banners to the fresh wind play: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Rise, and arm--’tis day,’tis day! | 7 | ······· |
| And thou hast slumber’d long.” | 6 | ······ |
| “Brother! on the heathery lea | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Longer yet my sleep must be; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Though the morn of battle rise, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Darkly night rolls o’er my eyes-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| Brother, this is death! | 5 | /˘··· |
| Call me not when bugles sound, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Call me not when wine flows round; | 7 | ······· |
| Name me but amidst the brave, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Give me but a soldier’s grave-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But my bed of heath!” | 5 | ····· |
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.