Joust First
Bright shone the lists, blue bent the skies,And the knights still hurried amainTo the tournament under the ladies' eyes,Where the jousters were Heart and Brain.
Flourished the trumpets: entered Heart,A youth in crimson and gold.Flourished again: Brain stood apart,Steel-armored, dark and cold.
Heart's palfrey caracoled gayly round,Heart tra-li-ra'd merrily;But Brain sat still, with never a sound,So cynical-calm was he.
Heart's helmet-crest bore favors threeFrom his lady's white hand caught;While Brain wore a plumeless casque; not heOr favor gave or sought.
The herald blew; Heart shot a glanceTo find his lady's eye,But Brain gazed straight ahead his lanceTo aim more faithfully.
They charged, they struck; both fell, both bled.Brain rose again, ungloved,Heart, dying, smiled and faintly said,"My love to my beloved!"
Words in this poem
- amain adv.
- With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly. [Pref. a- + main. See 2d Main, n.]
- tournament n.
- A mock fight, or warlike game, formerly in great favor, in which a number of combatants were engaged, as an exhibition of their address and bravery; hence, figuratively, a real battle. [OE. turnement, tornement, OF. torneiement, tornoiement, F. tournoiement a turning or wheeling round. See Tourney.]
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- palfrey n.
- A saddle horse for the road, or for state occasions, as distinguished from a war horse. [OE. palefrai, OF. palefrei, F. palefroi, LL. palafredus, parafredus, from L. paraveredus a horse for extraordinary occasions, an extra post horse; Gr. veredus a]
- gayly adv.
- With mirth and frolic; merrily; blithely; gleefully.
- plumeless a.
- Without plumes.
- casque n.
- A piece of defensive or ornamental armor (with or without a vizor) for the head and neck; a helmet. [F. casque, fr. Sp. casco See Cask.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Joust First is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Sidney Lanier, Project Gutenberg ebook #579; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sidney Lanier, Joust First, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/joust-first.html, id L07691.
Form and metre
Joust First is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 skiesA · amainB · eyesA · brainB
- 2 ABAB heartA · goldB · apartA · coldB
- 3 A-A- roundA · merrily · soundA · he
- 4 ABAB threeA · caughtB · heA · soughtB
- 5 A-A- glanceA · eye · lanceA · faithfully
- 6 ABAB bledA · unglovedB · saidA · belovedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bright shone the lists, blue bent the skies, | 8 | ········ |
| And the knights still hurried amain | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| To the tournament under the ladies' eyes, | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| Where the jousters were Heart and Brain. | 8 | ········ |
| Flourished the trumpets: entered Heart, | 10 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘· |
| A youth in crimson and gold. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Flourished again: Brain stood apart, | 9 | /˘˘˘/··˘/ |
| Steel-armored, dark and cold. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Heart's palfrey caracoled gayly round, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Heart tra-li-ra'd merrily; | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| But Brain sat still, with never a sound, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| So cynical-calm was he. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Heart's helmet-crest bore favors three | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From his lady's white hand caught; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| While Brain wore a plumeless casque; not he | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Or favor gave or sought. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The herald blew; Heart shot a glance | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To find his lady's eye, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But Brain gazed straight ahead his lance | 9 | ···˘·˘/·· |
| To aim more faithfully. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| They charged, they struck; both fell, both bled. | 9 | ··˘······ |
| Brain rose again, ungloved, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Heart, dying, smiled and faintly said, | 9 | ·/˘·˘·/˘· |
| "My love to my beloved!" | 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.