The Gods Are Dead
THE gods are dead? Perhaps they are! Who knows?Living at least in Lemprière undeleted,The wise, the fair, the awful, the jocose,Are one and all, I like to think, retreatedIn some still land of lilacs and the rose.
Once higeh they sat, and high o’er earthly showsWith sacrificial dance and song were greeted.Once . . . long ago. But now, the story goes,The gods are dead.
It must be true. The world, a world of prose,Full-crammed with facts, in science swathed and sheeted,Nods in a stertorous after-dinner doze!Plangent and sad, in every wind that blowsWho will may hear the sorry words repeated:—‘The Gods are Dead!’
Words in this poem
- sacrificial a.
- Of or pertaining to sacrifice or sacrifices; consisting in sacrifice; performing sacrifice.
- stertorous a.
- Characterized by a deep snoring, which accompaines inspiration in some diseases, especially apoplexy; hence, hoarsely breathing; snoring. [L. stertere to snore: cf. F. stertoreux.]
- plangent a.
- Beating; dashing, as a wave. [L. plangens, -entis, fr. plangere to beat. See Plaint.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gods Are Dead 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, The Gods Are Dead, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/the-gods-are-dead.html, id L12377.
Form and metre
The Gods Are Dead is 15 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 AB-BA knowsA · undeletedB · jocose · retreatedB · roseA
- 2 ABAB showsA · greetedB · goesA · deadB
- 3 ABAABB proseA · sheetedB · dozeA · blowsA · repeatedB · deadB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE gods are dead? Perhaps they are! Who knows? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Living at least in Lemprière undeleted, | 11 | /˘········· |
| The wise, the fair, the awful, the jocose, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Are one and all, I like to think, retreated | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| In some still land of lilacs and the rose. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Once higeh they sat, and high o’er earthly shows | 11 | ········/˘· |
| With sacrificial dance and song were greeted. | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Once . . . long ago. But now, the story goes, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| The gods are dead. | 4 | ···· |
| It must be true. The world, a world of prose, | 10 | ·········· |
| Full-crammed with facts, in science swathed and sheeted, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Nods in a stertorous after-dinner doze! | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘· |
| Plangent and sad, in every wind that blows | 11 | /˘···/˘˘··· |
| Who will may hear the sorry words repeated:— | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| ‘The Gods are Dead!’ | 4 | ···· |
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.