Irregular
Silence of death--portentous calm,Those airy forms that yonder flyDenote that your void foreruns a storm,That the hour of fate is nigh.I see, I see, on the dim mist borne,The Spirit of battles rear his crest!I see, I see, that ere the morn,His spear will forsake its hated rest,And the widow'd wife of Larrendill will beat her naked breast.
O'er the smooth bosom of the sullen deep,No softly ruffling zephyrs fly;But nature sleeps a deathless sleep,For the hour of battle is nigh.Not a loose leaf waves on the dusky oak,But a creeping stillness reigns around;Except when the raven, with ominous croak,On the ear does unwelcomely sound.I know, I know what this silence means;I know what the raven saith--Strike, oh, ye bards! the melancholy harp,For this is the eve of death.
Behold, how along the twilight airThe shades of our fathers glide!There Morven fled, with the blood-drench'd hair,And Colma with gray side.No gale around its coolness flings,Yet sadly sigh the gloomy trees;And hark! how the harp's unvisited stringsSound sweet, as if swept by a whispering breeze!'Tis done! the sun he has set in blood!He will never set more to the brave;Let us pour to the hero the dirge of death,For to-morrow he hies to the grave.
Words in this poem
- portentous a.
- Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreschadowing, esp. foreschadowing ill; ominous. [L. portentosus.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Irregular is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White : With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, Project Gutenberg ebook #7149; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Kirke White, Irregular, in The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White (1803–1806), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7149, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kirke-white-poems/irregular.html, id L10076.
Form and metre
Irregular is 33 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 9% 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 -A-ABCBCC calm · flyA · storm · nighA · borneB · crestC · mornB · restC · breastC
- 2 ABABCDCD-E-E deepA · flyB · sleepA · nighB · oakC · aroundD · croakC · soundD · means · saithE · harp · deathE
- 3 ABABCDCD-E-E airA · glideB · hairA · sideB · flingsC · treesD · stringsC · breezeD · blood · braveE · death · graveE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silence of death--portentous calm, | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| Those airy forms that yonder fly | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Denote that your void foreruns a storm, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| That the hour of fate is nigh. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| I see, I see, on the dim mist borne, | 9 | ········· |
| The Spirit of battles rear his crest! | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| I see, I see, that ere the morn, | 8 | ········ |
| His spear will forsake its hated rest, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| And the widow'd wife of Larrendill will beat her naked breast. | 15 | ··/˘········/˘· |
| O'er the smooth bosom of the sullen deep, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| No softly ruffling zephyrs fly; | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| But nature sleeps a deathless sleep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For the hour of battle is nigh. | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Not a loose leaf waves on the dusky oak, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But a creeping stillness reigns around; | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Except when the raven, with ominous croak, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| On the ear does unwelcomely sound. | 10 | ·········· |
| I know, I know what this silence means; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| I know what the raven saith-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Strike, oh, ye bards! the melancholy harp, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| For this is the eve of death. | 7 | ······· |
| Behold, how along the twilight air | 9 | ˘/·˘/·/·· |
| The shades of our fathers glide! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| There Morven fled, with the blood-drench'd hair, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And Colma with gray side. | 6 | ······ |
| No gale around its coolness flings, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet sadly sigh the gloomy trees; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And hark! how the harp's unvisited strings | 10 | ·········· |
| Sound sweet, as if swept by a whispering breeze! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| 'Tis done! the sun he has set in blood! | 9 | ········· |
| He will never set more to the brave; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Let us pour to the hero the dirge of death, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| For to-morrow he hies to the grave. | 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.