Under the Walls of Machaerus
MANAHEM, rushing out.Away from this Palace of sin!The demons, the terrible powersOf the air, that haunt its towersAnd hide in its water-spouts,Deafen me with the dinOf their laughter and their shoutsFor the crimes that are done within!Sink back into the earth,Or vanish into the air,Thou castle of despair!Let it all be but a dreamOf the things of monstrous birth,Of the things that only seem!White Angel of the Moon,Onafiel! be my guideOut of this hateful placeOf sin and death, nor hideIn you black cloud too soonThy pale and tranquil face!
Hark! hark! It is the breathOf the trump of doom and death,From the battlements overheadLike a burden of sorrow castOn the midnight and the blast,A wailing for the dead,That the gusts drop and uplift!O Herod, thy vengeance is swift!O Herodias, thou hast beenThe demon, the evil thing,That in place of Esther the Queen,In place of the lawful bride,Hast lain at night by the sideOf Ahasuerus the king!
The Prophet of God is dead!At a drunken monarch's call,At a dancing-woman's beck,They have severed that stubborn neckAnd into the banquet-hallAre bearing the ghastly head!
A torch of redLights the window with its glow;And a white mass as of snowIs hurled into the abyssOf the black precipice,That yawns for it below!O hand of the Most High,O hand of Adonai!Bury it, hide it awayFrom the birds and beasts of prey,And the eyes of the homicide,More pitiless than they,As thou didst bury of yoreThe body of him that diedOn the mountain of Peor!Even now I behold a sign,A threatening of wrath divine,A watery, wandering star,Through whose streaming hair, and the whiteUnfolding garments of light,That trail behind it afar,The constellations shine!And the whiteness and brightness appearLike the Angel bearing the SeerBy the hair of his head, in the mightAnd rush of his vehement flight.And I listen until I hearFrom fathomless depths of the skyThe voice of his prophecySounding louder and more near!
Malediction! malediction!May the lightnings of heaven fallOn palace and prison wall,And their desolation beAs the day of fear and affliction,As the day of anguish and ire,With the burning and fuel of fire,In the Valley of the Sea!
Words in this poem
- deafen v. t.
- To make deaf; to deprive of the power of hearing; to render incapable of perceiving sounds distinctly. [From Deaf.]
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- uplift v. t.
- To lift or raise aloft; to raise; to elevate; as, to uplift the arm; to uplift a rock.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- adonai n.
- A Hebrew name for God, usually translated in the Old Testament by the word
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- fathomless a.
- Incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable; that can not be sounded.
- malediction n.
- A proclaiming of evil against some one; a cursing; imprecation; a curse or execration; -- opposed to benediction. [L. maledictio: cf. F. malédiction. See Maledicent.]
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Under the Walls of Machaerus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; 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 Wadsworth Longfellow, Under the Walls of Machaerus, in Christus: A Mystery (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-christus/under-the-walls-of-machaerus.html, id L17870.
Form and metre
Under the Walls of Machaerus is 78 lines in 5 stanzas.
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 -ABBCACADEEFDFGHIHGI out · sinA · powersB · towersB · spoutsC · dinA · shoutsC · withinA · earthD · airE · despairE · dreamF · birthD · seemF · moonG · guideH · placeI · hideH · soonG · faceI
- 2 AABCCBDD-E-FFE breathA · deathA · overheadB · castC · blastC · deadB · upliftD · swiftD · been · thingE · queen · brideF · sideF · kingE
- 3 ABCCBA deadA · callB · beckC · neckC · hallB · headA
- 4 -AABBACCDDED-E-FFGHHGFIIHHIC-I red · glowA · snowA · abyssB · precipiceB · belowA · highC · adonaiC · awayD · preyD · homicideE · theyD · yore · diedE · peor · signF · divineF · starG · whiteH · lightH · afarG · shineF · appearI · seerI · mightH · flightH · hearI · skyC · prophecy · nearI
- 5 ABBCADDC maledictionA · fallB · wallB · beC · afflictionA · ireD · fireD · seaC
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| MANAHEM, rushing out. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Away from this Palace of sin! | 8 | ˘/··/˘·· |
| The demons, the terrible powers | 9 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Of the air, that haunt its towers | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And hide in its water-spouts, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Deafen me with the din | 6 | /˘···· |
| Of their laughter and their shouts | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For the crimes that are done within! | 8 | ········ |
| Sink back into the earth, | 6 | ······ |
| Or vanish into the air, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Thou castle of despair! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Let it all be but a dream | 7 | ······· |
| Of the things of monstrous birth, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Of the things that only seem! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| White Angel of the Moon, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Onafiel! be my guide | 6 | ······ |
| Out of this hateful place | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of sin and death, nor hide | 6 | ······ |
| In you black cloud too soon | 6 | ······ |
| Thy pale and tranquil face! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hark! hark! It is the breath | 6 | ······ |
| Of the trump of doom and death, | 7 | ······· |
| From the battlements overhead | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘/ |
| Like a burden of sorrow cast | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| On the midnight and the blast, | 7 | ··/···· |
| A wailing for the dead, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That the gusts drop and uplift! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O Herod, thy vengeance is swift! | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| O Herodias, thou hast been | 7 | ······· |
| The demon, the evil thing, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| That in place of Esther the Queen, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| In place of the lawful bride, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Hast lain at night by the side | 7 | ······· |
| Of Ahasuerus the king! | 8 | ·˘·˘/˘·· |
| The Prophet of God is dead! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| At a drunken monarch's call, | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| At a dancing-woman's beck, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| They have severed that stubborn neck | 9 | ··/˘˘·/˘· |
| And into the banquet-hall | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Are bearing the ghastly head! | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| A torch of red | 4 | ···· |
| Lights the window with its glow; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And a white mass as of snow | 7 | ······· |
| Is hurled into the abyss | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Of the black precipice, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| That yawns for it below! | 6 | ······ |
| O hand of the Most High, | 6 | ······ |
| O hand of Adonai! | 6 | ······ |
| Bury it, hide it away | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| From the birds and beasts of prey, | 7 | ······· |
| And the eyes of the homicide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| More pitiless than they, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| As thou didst bury of yore | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The body of him that died | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| On the mountain of Peor! | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Even now I behold a sign, | 8 | /˘··˘/·· |
| A threatening of wrath divine, | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| A watery, wandering star, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| Through whose streaming hair, and the white | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Unfolding garments of light, | 7 | ˘/˘/˘·· |
| That trail behind it afar, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The constellations shine! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And the whiteness and brightness appear | 9 | ··/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Like the Angel bearing the Seer | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| By the hair of his head, in the might | 9 | ········· |
| And rush of his vehement flight. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And I listen until I hear | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| From fathomless depths of the sky | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The voice of his prophecy | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Sounding louder and more near! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Malediction! malediction! | 8 | ········ |
| May the lightnings of heaven fall | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| On palace and prison wall, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And their desolation be | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| As the day of fear and affliction, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| As the day of anguish and ire, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| With the burning and fuel of fire, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| In the Valley of the Sea! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.