Grave
ST. MARGARET’S bells,Quiring their innocent, old-world canticles,Sing in the storied air,All rosy-and-golden, as with memoriesOf woods at evensong, and sands and seasDisconsolate for that the night is nigh.O, the low, lingering lights! The large last gleam(Hark! how those brazen choristers cry and call!)Touching these solemn ancientries, and there,The silent River ranging tide-mark highAnd the callow, grey-faced Hospital,With the strange glimmer and glamour of a dream!The Sabbath peace is in the slumbrous trees,And from the wistful, the fast-widowing sky(Hark! how those plangent comforters call and cry!)Falls as in August plots late roseleaves fall.The sober Sabbath stir—Leisurely voices, desultory feet!—Comes from the dry, dust-coloured street,Where in their summer frocks the girls go by,And sweethearts lean and loiter and confer,Just as they did an hundred years ago,Just as an hundred years to come they will:—When you and I, Dear Love, lie lost and low,And sweet-throats none our welkin shall fulfil,Nor any sunset fade serene and slow;But, being dead, we shall not grieve to die.
Words in this poem
- storied a.
- Told in a story. [From Story.]
- evensong n.
- A song for the evening; the evening service or form of worship (in the Church of England including vespers and compline); also, the time of evensong. Wyclif. [AS. æfensang.]
- disconsolate n.
- Disconsolateness. Barrow.
- callow a.
- Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. [OE. calewe, calu, bald, AS. calu; akin to D. kaal, OHG. chalo, G. Kuhl; cf. L. calvus.]
- hospital n.
- A place for shelter or entertainment; an inn. [OF. hospital, ospital, F. hôpital, LL. hospitale (or perh. E. hospital is directly from the Late Latin), from L. hospitalis relating to a guest, hospitalia apar]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- slumbrous a.
- Slumberous. Keats.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- plangent a.
- Beating; dashing, as a wave. [L. plangens, -entis, fr. plangere to beat. See Plaint.]
- desultory a.
- Leaping or skipping about. [L. desultorius, fr. desultor a leaper, fr. desilire, desultum, to leap down; de + salire to leap. See Saltation.]
- welkin n.
- The visible regions of the air; the vault of heaven; the sky. [OE. welken, welkene, welkne, wolcne, weolcne, AS. wolcen, pl. wolcnu, a cloud; akin to D. wolk, OFries. wolken, OS. wolkan, G. wolke, OHG. wolchan, and probably]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Grave is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Grave, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/grave.html, id L12431.
Form and metre
Grave is 27 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 --ABBCDEACEDBCCEFGGCFH-H-HC bells · canticles · airA · memoriesB · seasB · nighC · gleamD · callE · thereA · highC · hospitalE · dreamD · treesB · skyC · cryC · fallE · stirF · feetG · streetG · byC · conferF · agoH · will · lowH · fulfil · slowH · dieC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ST. MARGARET’S bells, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Quiring their innocent, old-world canticles, | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Sing in the storied air, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| All rosy-and-golden, as with memories | 10 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Of woods at evensong, and sands and seas | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Disconsolate for that the night is nigh. | 10 | ˘/˘˘······ |
| O, the low, lingering lights! The large last gleam | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| (Hark! how those brazen choristers cry and call!) | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Touching these solemn ancientries, and there, | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| The silent River ranging tide-mark high | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And the callow, grey-faced Hospital, | 9 | ··/˘··/·˘ |
| With the strange glimmer and glamour of a dream! | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| The Sabbath peace is in the slumbrous trees, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And from the wistful, the fast-widowing sky | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| (Hark! how those plangent comforters call and cry!) | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Falls as in August plots late roseleaves fall. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The sober Sabbath stir— | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Leisurely voices, desultory feet!— | 9 | /˘/˘/˘·˘· |
| Comes from the dry, dust-coloured street, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where in their summer frocks the girls go by, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And sweethearts lean and loiter and confer, | 10 | ·/···/˘·˘/ |
| Just as they did an hundred years ago, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Just as an hundred years to come they will:— | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When you and I, Dear Love, lie lost and low, | 10 | ·········· |
| And sweet-throats none our welkin shall fulfil, | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| Nor any sunset fade serene and slow; | 10 | ·/˘/··˘/·· |
| But, being dead, we shall not grieve to die. | 9 | ·/······· |
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.