Memorial Day
The bugle echoes shrill and sweet,But not of war it sings to-day.The road is rhythmic with the feetOf men-at-arms who come to pray.
The roses blossom white and redOn tombs where weary soldiers lie;Flags wave above the honored deadAnd martial music cleaves the sky.
Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel,They kept the faith and fought the fight.Through flying lead and crimson steelThey plunged for Freedom and the Right.
May we, their grateful children, learnTheir strength, who lie beneath this sod,Who went through fire and death to earnAt last the accolade of God.
In shining rank on rank arrayedThey march, the legions of the Lord;He is their Captain unafraid,The Prince of Peace . . . Who brought a sword.
Words in this poem
- rhythmic a.
- Pertaining to, or of the nature of, rhythm DAy and night I worked my rhythmic thought. Mrs. Browning. [Gr. rhythmicus, F. rhythmique.]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- accolade n.
- A ceremony formerly used in conferring knighthood, consisting am embrace, and a slight blow on the shoulders with the flat blade of a sword. [F. accolade, It. accolata, fr. accollare to embrace; L. ad + collum neck.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Memorial Day is in the public domain. This text is taken from Trees, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #263; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joyce Kilmer, Memorial Day, in Trees and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #263, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kilmer-trees/memorial-day.html, id L12900.
Form and metre
Memorial Day is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 35% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 sweetA · dayB · feetA · prayB
- 2 ABAB redA · lieB · deadA · skyB
- 3 ABAB kneelA · fightB · steelA · rightB
- 4 ABAB learnA · sodB · earnA · godB
- 5 ABAB arrayedA · lordB · unafraidA · swordB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The bugle echoes shrill and sweet, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But not of war it sings to-day. | 8 | ········ |
| The road is rhythmic with the feet | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of men-at-arms who come to pray. | 8 | ········ |
| The roses blossom white and red | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| On tombs where weary soldiers lie; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Flags wave above the honored dead | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And martial music cleaves the sky. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel, | 8 | ········ |
| They kept the faith and fought the fight. | 8 | ········ |
| Through flying lead and crimson steel | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They plunged for Freedom and the Right. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| May we, their grateful children, learn | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Their strength, who lie beneath this sod, | 8 | ········ |
| Who went through fire and death to earn | 8 | ···/···· |
| At last the accolade of God. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In shining rank on rank arrayed | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| They march, the legions of the Lord; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He is their Captain unafraid, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The Prince of Peace . . . Who brought a sword. | 8 | ········ |
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.