A Post-Mort-D’Arthurian Legend
Ye log burns low, ye feaste is donne,Twelve knyghtes of ye Table RoundeSlyde down fromme ye benches, one by one,And snore upon ye ground.
Ye log to a dimme blue flame has died,When ye doore of ye banquet halleIs opened wide, and in there glydeTwelve spectral Hagges ande Talle.
Ye log burns dimme, and eke more dimme,Loud groans each knyghtlie gueste,As ye ghoste of his grandmother, gaunt and grimme,Sitts on each knyghte hys cheste.
Ye log in pieces twaine doth falle,Ye daye beginnes to breake,Twelve ghostlie grandmothers glyde from ye hall,And ye twelve goode knyghtes awake.
Ande ever whenne Mynce Pye was placedOn ye table frome thatte daye,Ye Twelve knyghtes crossed themselves in hasteAnde looked ye other waye.
Words in this poem
- snore v. i.
- To breathe with a rough, hoarse, nasal voice in sleep. [OE. snoren, AS. snora a snoring; akin to LG. snoren, snorken, snurken, to snore, D. snorken, G. schnarchen to snore, schnarren to rattle, MHG. snarren, Sw. snar]
- dimme a.
- Not bright or distinct; wanting luminousness or clearness; obscure in luster or sound; dusky; darkish; obscure; indistinct; overcast; tarnished. [AS. dim; akin to OFries. dim, Icel. dimmr: cf. MHG. timmer, timber; of uncertain origin.]
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- grimme n.
- A West African antelope (Cephalophus rufilotus) of a deep bay color, with a broad dorsal stripe of black; -- called also conquetoon. [Cf. F. grimme.]
- whenne adv.
- At what time; -- used interrogatively. [OE. when, whan, whenne, whanne, AS. hwænne, hwanne, hwonne; akin to OS. hwan, OD. wan, OHG. wanne, G. wann when, wenn if, when, Goth. hwan when, and to E. who. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Post-Mort-D’Arthurian Legend is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bashful Earthquake, & Other Fables and Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #56765; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Herford, A Post-Mort-D’Arthurian Legend, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/a-post-mort-d-arthurian-legend.html, id L22121.
Form and metre
A Post-Mort-D’Arthurian Legend is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 donneA · roundeB · oneA · groundB
- 2 A-A- diedA · halle · glydeA · talle
- 3 ABAB dimmeA · guesteB · grimmeA · chesteB
- 4 A-A- falleA · breake · hallA · awake
- 5 ABAB placedA · dayeB · hasteA · wayeB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ye log burns low, ye feaste is donne, | 8 | ········ |
| Twelve knyghtes of ye Table Rounde | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Slyde down fromme ye benches, one by one, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And snore upon ye ground. | 6 | ······ |
| Ye log to a dimme blue flame has died, | 9 | ········· |
| When ye doore of ye banquet halle | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is opened wide, and in there glyde | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Twelve spectral Hagges ande Talle. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ye log burns dimme, and eke more dimme, | 8 | ········ |
| Loud groans each knyghtlie gueste, | 6 | ······ |
| As ye ghoste of his grandmother, gaunt and grimme, | 11 | ·····/·˘··· |
| Sitts on each knyghte hys cheste. | 6 | ······ |
| Ye log in pieces twaine doth falle, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Ye daye beginnes to breake, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Twelve ghostlie grandmothers glyde from ye hall, | 10 | ···/·˘···· |
| And ye twelve goode knyghtes awake. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Ande ever whenne Mynce Pye was placed | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On ye table frome thatte daye, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ye Twelve knyghtes crossed themselves in haste | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Ande looked ye other waye. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.