To J. L. Motley
YES, we knew we must lose him,--though friendship may claimTo blend her green leaves with the laurels of fame;Though fondly, at parting, we call him our own,'T is the whisper of love when the bugle has blown.
As the rider that rests with the spur on his heel,As the guardsman that sleeps in his corselet of steel,As the archer that stands with his shaft on the string,He stoops from his toil to the garland we bring.
What pictures yet slumber unborn in his loom,Till their warriors shall breathe and their beauties shall bloom,While the tapestry lengthens the life-glowing dyesThat caught from our sunsets the stain of their skies!
In the alcoves of death, in the charnels of timid,Where flit the gaunt spectres of passion and crime,There are triumphs untold, there are martyrs unsung,There are heroes yet silent to speak with his tongue!
Let us hear the proud story which time has bequeathed!From lips that are warm with the freedom they breathed!Let him summon its tyrants, and tell us their doom,Though he sweep the black past like Van Tromp with his broom!
The dream flashes by, for the west-winds awakeOn pampas, on prairie, o'er mountain and lake,To bathe the swift bark, like a sea-girdled shrine,With incense they stole from the rose and the pine.
So fill a bright cup with the sunlight that gushedWhen the dead summer's jewels were trampled and crushed:THE TRUE KNIGHT OF LEARNING,--the world holds him dear,--Love bless him, Joy crown him, God speed his career!
Words in this poem
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- guardsman n.
- One who guards; a guard.
- corselet n.
- Armor for the body, as, the body breastplate and backpiece taken together; -- also, used for the entire suit of the day, including breastplate and backpiece, tasset and headpiece. [F., dim. of OF. cors. F. corps, body. See Corse.]
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- 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,]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- 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.]
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
- tromp n.
- A trumpet; a trump. [See Trump a trumpet.]
- pampas n.
- Vast plains in the central and southern part of the Argentine Republic in South America. The term is sometimes used in a wider sense for the plains extending from Bolivia to Southern Patagonia. [Sp., fr. Peruv. pampa a field, plain.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To J. L. Motley is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; 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 Wendell Holmes, To J. L. Motley, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/to-j-l-motley.html, id L23558.
Form and metre
To J. L. Motley is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB claimA · fameA · ownB · blownB
- 2 AABB heelA · steelA · stringB · bringB
- 3 AABB loomA · bloomA · dyesB · skiesB
- 4 --AA timid · crime · unsungA · tongueA
- 5 --AA bequeathed · breathed · doomA · broomA
- 6 AABB awakeA · lakeA · shrineB · pineB
- 7 AABB gushedA · crushedA · dearB · careerB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| YES, we knew we must lose him,--though friendship may claim | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| To blend her green leaves with the laurels of fame; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Though fondly, at parting, we call him our own, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘· |
| 'T is the whisper of love when the bugle has blown. | 13 | ···/˘····/˘·· |
| As the rider that rests with the spur on his heel, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| As the guardsman that sleeps in his corselet of steel, | 12 | ··/·····/˘·· |
| As the archer that stands with his shaft on the string, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| He stoops from his toil to the garland we bring. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| What pictures yet slumber unborn in his loom, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘//··· |
| Till their warriors shall breathe and their beauties shall bloom, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| While the tapestry lengthens the life-glowing dyes | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| That caught from our sunsets the stain of their skies! | 12 | ···/˘/······ |
| In the alcoves of death, in the charnels of timid, | 13 | ··/········/˘ |
| Where flit the gaunt spectres of passion and crime, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| There are triumphs untold, there are martyrs unsung, | 12 | ··/˘˘/··/˘˘/ |
| There are heroes yet silent to speak with his tongue! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| Let us hear the proud story which time has bequeathed! | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| From lips that are warm with the freedom they breathed! | 12 | ·······/˘··˘ |
| Let him summon its tyrants, and tell us their doom, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| Though he sweep the black past like Van Tromp with his broom! | 12 | ············ |
| The dream flashes by, for the west-winds awake | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| On pampas, on prairie, o'er mountain and lake, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| To bathe the swift bark, like a sea-girdled shrine, | 12 | ········/˘˘· |
| With incense they stole from the rose and the pine. | 11 | ·˘/········ |
| So fill a bright cup with the sunlight that gushed | 12 | ·······/···˘ |
| When the dead summer's jewels were trampled and crushed: | 12 | ···/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| THE TRUE KNIGHT OF LEARNING,--the world holds him dear,-- | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Love bless him, Joy crown him, God speed his career! | 11 | ·········˘/ |
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.