Act IV: Scene I. — Judas Maccabaeus; Captains; Jews
JUDAS.Behold, our enemies are discomfited.Jerusalem is fallen; and our bannersFloat from her battlements, and o'er her gatesNicanor's severed head, a sign of terror,Blackens in wind and sun.
CAPTAINS.O Maccabaeus,The citadel of Antiochus, whereinThe Mother with her Seven Sons was murdered,Is still defiant.
JUDAS.Wait.
CAPTAINS.Its hateful aspectInsults us with the bitter memoriesOf other days.
JUDAS.Wait; it shall disappearAnd vanish as a cloud. First let us cleanseThe Sanctuary. See, it is becomeWaste like a wilderness. Its golden gatesWrenched from their hinges and consumed by fire;Shrubs growing in its courts as in a forest;Upon its altars hideous and strange idols;And strewn about its pavement at my feetIts Sacred Books, half burned and painted o'erWith images of heathen gods.
JEWS.Woe! woe!Our beauty and our glory are laid waste!The Gentiles have profaned our holy places!
JUDAS.This sound of trumpets, and this lamentation,The heart-cry of a people toward the heavens,Stir me to wrath and vengeance. Go, my captains;I hold you back no longer. Batter downThe citadel of Antiochus, while hereWe sweep away his altars and his gods.
Words in this poem
- defiant a.
- Full of defiance; bold; insolent; as, a defiant spirit or act. [Cf. F. défiant, p. pr. of défier. See Defy.]
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- 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,]
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act IV: Scene I. — Judas Maccabaeus; Captains; Jews 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, Act IV: Scene I. — Judas Maccabaeus; Captains; Jews, in Judas Maccabaeus (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-judas-maccabaeus/act-iv-scene-i-judas-maccabaeus-captains-jews.html, id L19131.
Form and metre
Act IV: Scene I. — Judas Maccabaeus; Captains; Jews is 39 lines in 7 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.
- 4 --AA captains · aspect · memoriesA · daysA
- 6 A--A jewsA · woe · waste · placesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Behold, our enemies are discomfited. | 10 | ˘///˘····· |
| Jerusalem is fallen; and our banners | 11 | ˘/˘˘·/˘·//˘ |
| Float from her battlements, and o'er her gates | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Nicanor's severed head, a sign of terror, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Blackens in wind and sun. | 6 | /˘···· |
| CAPTAINS. | 2 | /˘ |
| O Maccabaeus, | 4 | ···· |
| The citadel of Antiochus, wherein | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘·· |
| The Mother with her Seven Sons was murdered, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Is still defiant. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Wait. | 1 | · |
| CAPTAINS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Its hateful aspect | 5 | ·/˘/· |
| Insults us with the bitter memories | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘˘ |
| Of other days. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Wait; it shall disappear | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And vanish as a cloud. First let us cleanse | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The Sanctuary. See, it is become | 10 | ·/˘·˘···˘/ |
| Waste like a wilderness. Its golden gates | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Wrenched from their hinges and consumed by fire; | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Shrubs growing in its courts as in a forest; | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Upon its altars hideous and strange idols; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And strewn about its pavement at my feet | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Its Sacred Books, half burned and painted o'er | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| With images of heathen gods. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| JEWS. | 1 | · |
| Woe! woe! | 2 | ·· |
| Our beauty and our glory are laid waste! | 10 | //˘·//˘··· |
| The Gentiles have profaned our holy places! | 11 | ·/··˘///˘/˘ |
| JUDAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| This sound of trumpets, and this lamentation, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The heart-cry of a people toward the heavens, | 12 | ·····/˘···/˘ |
| Stir me to wrath and vengeance. Go, my captains; | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| I hold you back no longer. Batter down | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The citadel of Antiochus, while here | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘·· |
| We sweep away his altars and his gods. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
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