The Urn and Sword
They sought for treasures in the tomb,Where gentler hands were wont to spreadFresh boughs and flowers of purple bloom,And sunny ringlets, for the dead.
They scatter’d far the greensward heap,Where once those hands the bright wine pour’d;--What found they in the home of sleep?--A mouldering urn, a shiver’d sword!
An urn, which held the dust of oneWho died when hearths and shrines were free;A sword, whose work was proudly doneBetween our mountains and the sea.
And these are treasures!--undismay’d,Still for their suffering land we trust,Wherein the past its fame hath laidWith freedom’s sword and valour’s dust.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- greensward n.
- Turf green with grass.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Urn and Sword 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 Urn and Sword, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-urn-and-sword.html, id L19293.
Form and metre
The Urn and Sword is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 tombA · spreadB · bloomA · deadB
- 2 ABAB heapA · pour'dB · sleepA · swordB
- 3 ABAB oneA · freeB · doneA · seaB
- 4 ABAB undismay'dA · trustB · laidA · dustB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They sought for treasures in the tomb, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where gentler hands were wont to spread | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fresh boughs and flowers of purple bloom, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And sunny ringlets, for the dead. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They scatter’d far the greensward heap, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Where once those hands the bright wine pour’d; | 8 | ········ |
| --What found they in the home of sleep?-- | 8 | ········ |
| A mouldering urn, a shiver’d sword! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| An urn, which held the dust of one | 8 | ········ |
| Who died when hearths and shrines were free; | 8 | ········ |
| A sword, whose work was proudly done | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Between our mountains and the sea. | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| And these are treasures!--undismay’d, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Still for their suffering land we trust, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wherein the past its fame hath laid | 8 | ········ |
| With freedom’s sword and valour’s dust. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
Notes from The Poems of Felicia Hemans (Project Gutenberg #66785), largely Mrs Hemans's own.
- Stanza 1, line 4 See Potter’s Grecian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 234.
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