Aceldama
Lost! Lost! Forever lost! I have betrayedThe innocent blood! O God! if thou art love,Why didst thou leave me naked to the tempter?Why didst thou not commission thy swift lightningTo strike me dead? or why did I not perishWith those by Herod slain, the innocent children,Who went with playthings in their little handsInto the darkness of the other world,As if to bed? Or wherefore was I born,If thou in thy foreknowledge didst perceiveAll that I am, and all that I must be?I know I am not generous, am not gentle,Like other men; but I have tried to be,And I have failed. I thought by following himI should grow like him; but the unclean spiritThat from my childhood up hath tortured meHath been too cunning and too strong for me,Am I to blame for this? Am I to blameBecause I cannot love, and ne'er have knownThe love of woman or the love of children?It is a curse and a fatality,A mark that hath been set upon my forehead,That none shall slay me, for it were a mercyThat I were dead, or never had been born.
Too late! too late! I shall not see Him moreAmong the living. That sweet, patient faceWill never more rebuke me, nor those lipsRepeat the words: One of you shall betray me!It stung me into madness. How I loved,Yet hated Him: But in the other world!I will be there before Him, and will waitUntil he comes, and fall down on my kneesAnd kiss his feet, imploring pardon, pardon!
I heard Him say: All sins shall be forgiven,Except the sin against the Holy Ghost.That shall not be forgiven in this world,Nor in the world to come. Is that my sin?Have I offended so there is no hopeHere nor hereafter? That I soon shall know.O God, have mercy! Christ have mercy on me!
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- tempter n.
- One who tempts or entices; especially, Satan, or the Devil, regarded as the great enticer to evil.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- fatality n.
- The state of being fatal, or proceeding from destiny; invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control. [L. fatalitas: cf. F. fatalité]
- 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,]
- imploring a.
- That implores; beseeching; entreating.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Aceldama 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, Aceldama, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/aceldama.html, id L17892.
Form and metre
Aceldama is 40 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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--B-C-C--CC-AA---B betrayed · love · tempter · lightning · perish · childrenA · hands · world · bornB · perceive · beC · gentle · beC · him · spirit · meC · meC · blame · knownA · childrenA · fatality · forehead · mercy · bornB
- 3 A--A--- forgivenA · ghost · world · sinA · hope · know · me
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lost! Lost! Forever lost! I have betrayed | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| The innocent blood! O God! if thou art love, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Why didst thou leave me naked to the tempter? | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Why didst thou not commission thy swift lightning | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| To strike me dead? or why did I not perish | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| With those by Herod slain, the innocent children, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Who went with playthings in their little hands | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Into the darkness of the other world, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As if to bed? Or wherefore was I born, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If thou in thy foreknowledge didst perceive | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| All that I am, and all that I must be? | 10 | ·········· |
| I know I am not generous, am not gentle, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Like other men; but I have tried to be, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And I have failed. I thought by following him | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I should grow like him; but the unclean spirit | 11 | ·······˘//˘ |
| That from my childhood up hath tortured me | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Hath been too cunning and too strong for me, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Am I to blame for this? Am I to blame | 10 | ·········· |
| Because I cannot love, and ne'er have known | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The love of woman or the love of children? | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| It is a curse and a fatality, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| A mark that hath been set upon my forehead, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| That none shall slay me, for it were a mercy | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| That I were dead, or never had been born. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Too late! too late! I shall not see Him more | 10 | ·········· |
| Among the living. That sweet, patient face | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Will never more rebuke me, nor those lips | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Repeat the words: One of you shall betray me! | 11 | ˘/······˘/· |
| It stung me into madness. How I loved, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Yet hated Him: But in the other world! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| I will be there before Him, and will wait | 10 | ·········· |
| Until he comes, and fall down on my knees | 10 | ·········· |
| And kiss his feet, imploring pardon, pardon! | 11 | ····˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| I heard Him say: All sins shall be forgiven, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Except the sin against the Holy Ghost. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That shall not be forgiven in this world, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Nor in the world to come. Is that my sin? | 10 | ·········· |
| Have I offended so there is no hope | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Here nor hereafter? That I soon shall know. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| O God, have mercy! Christ have mercy on me! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
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