The Call to Battle
“Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,And there were sudden partings, such as pressThe life from out young hearts, and choking signs,Which ne’er might be repeated.” Byron.
The vesper-bell, from church and tower,Had sent its dying sound;And the household, in the hush of eve,Were met their porch around.
A voice rang through the olive-wood, with a sudden trumpet’s power--“We rise on all our hills! Come forth! ’tis thy country’sgathering-hour:There’s a gleam of spears by every stream in each old battle-dell.Come forth, young Juan! Bid thy home a brief and proud farewell!”
Then the father gave his son the swordWhich a hundred fights had seen--“Away! and bear it back, my boy!All that it still hath been!
“Haste, haste! The hunters of the foe are up: and who shall standThe lion-like awakening of the roused indignant land?Our chase shall sound through each defile where swept the clarion’sblast,With the flying footsteps of the Moor, in stormy ages past.”
Then the mother kiss’d her son with tearsThat o’er his dark locks fell:“I bless, I bless thee o’er and o’er,Yet I stay thee not--Farewell!”
“One moment! but one moment give to parting thought or word!It is no time for woman’s tears when manhood’s heart is stirr’d.Bear but the memory of my love about thee in the fight,To breathe upon th’ avenging sword a spell of keener might.
And a maiden’s fond adieu was heard,Though deep, yet brief and low:“In the vigil, in the conflict, love!My prayer shall with thee go!”
“Come forth! come as the torrent comes when the winter’s chain isburst!So rushes on the land’s revenge, in night and silence nursed.The night is pass’d, the silence o’er--on all our hills we rise:We wait thee, youth! sleep, dream no more! the voice of battlecries.”
There were sad hearts in a darken’d home,When the brave had left their bower;But the strength of prayer and sacrificeWas with them in that hour.
Words in this poem
- choking a.
- That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation.
- vesper n.
- The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- 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,]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- keener n.
- A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Call to Battle 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 Call to Battle, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-call-to-battle.html, id L19655.
Form and metre
The Call to Battle is 45 lines in 10 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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-- fro · distressA · pressA · signs · byron
- 2 -A-A tower · soundA · eve · aroundA
- 3 A-ABB powerA · country's · hourA · dellB · farewellB
- 5 AA-BB standA · landA · clarion's · blastB · pastB
- 6 -A-A tears · fellA · o'er · farewellA
- 7 AABB wordA · stirr'dA · fightB · mightB
- 8 -A-A heard · lowA · love · goA
- 9 -AAB-B is · burstA · nursedA · riseB · battle · criesB
- 10 -A-A home · bowerA · sacrifice · hourA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And there were sudden partings, such as press | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The life from out young hearts, and choking signs, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which ne’er might be repeated.” Byron. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| The vesper-bell, from church and tower, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Had sent its dying sound; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And the household, in the hush of eve, | 9 | ··/······ |
| Were met their porch around. | 6 | ······ |
| A voice rang through the olive-wood, with a sudden trumpet’s power-- | 15 | ·····/˘···/˘/˘/ |
| “We rise on all our hills! Come forth! ’tis thy country’s | 12 | ····/·····/˘ |
| gathering-hour: | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| There’s a gleam of spears by every stream in each old battle-dell. | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| Come forth, young Juan! Bid thy home a brief and proud farewell!” | 14 | ·············/ |
| Then the father gave his son the sword | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Which a hundred fights had seen-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “Away! and bear it back, my boy! | 8 | ˘/······ |
| All that it still hath been! | 6 | ······ |
| “Haste, haste! The hunters of the foe are up: and who shall stand | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| The lion-like awakening of the roused indignant land? | 13 | ·/·˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Our chase shall sound through each defile where swept the clarion’s | 13 | /·····˘/···/˘ |
| blast, | 1 | · |
| With the flying footsteps of the Moor, in stormy ages past.” | 15 | ··/˘/·····/˘/˘· |
| Then the mother kiss’d her son with tears | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| That o’er his dark locks fell: | 6 | ······ |
| “I bless, I bless thee o’er and o’er, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet I stay thee not--Farewell!” | 7 | ······/ |
| “One moment! but one moment give to parting thought or word! | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| It is no time for woman’s tears when manhood’s heart is stirr’d. | 14 | ·····/˘··/···· |
| Bear but the memory of my love about thee in the fight, | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| To breathe upon th’ avenging sword a spell of keener might. | 14 | ····˘/˘····/˘· |
| And a maiden’s fond adieu was heard, | 9 | ··/˘·˘/·· |
| Though deep, yet brief and low: | 6 | ······ |
| “In the vigil, in the conflict, love! | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| My prayer shall with thee go!” | 6 | ······ |
| “Come forth! come as the torrent comes when the winter’s chain is | 14 | ·····/˘···/˘·· |
| burst! | 1 | · |
| So rushes on the land’s revenge, in night and silence nursed. | 14 | ·/˘···˘/···/˘· |
| The night is pass’d, the silence o’er--on all our hills we rise: | 14 | ·····/˘···/··· |
| We wait thee, youth! sleep, dream no more! the voice of battle | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| cries.” | 1 | · |
| There were sad hearts in a darken’d home, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| When the brave had left their bower; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But the strength of prayer and sacrifice | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Was with them in that hour. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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