Charles Sumner
Garlands upon his grave,And flowers upon his hearse,And to the tender heart and braveThe tribute of this verse.
His was the troubled life,The conflict and the pain,The grief, the bitterness of strife,The honor without stain.
Like Winkelried, he tookInto his manly breastThe sheaf of hostile spears, and brokeA path for the oppressed.
Then from the fatal fieldUpon a nation's heartBorne like a warrior on his shield!--So should the brave depart.
Death takes us by surprise,And stays our hurrying feet;The great design unfinished lies,Our lives are incomplete.
But in the dark unknownPerfect their circles seem,Even as a bridge's arch of stoneIs rounded in the stream.
Alike are life and death,When life in death survives,And the uninterrupted breathInspires a thousand lives.
Were a star quenched on high,For ages would its light,Still travelling downward from the sky,Shine on our mortal sight.
So when a great man dies,For years beyond our ken,The light he leaves behind him liesUpon the paths of men.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Charles Sumner 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, Charles Sumner, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/charles-sumner.html, id L17771.
Form and metre
Charles Sumner is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short 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 graveA · hearseB · braveA · verseB
- 2 ABAB lifeA · painB · strifeA · stainB
- 3 -A-A took · breastA · broke · oppressedA
- 4 ABAB fieldA · heartB · shieldA · departB
- 5 ABAB surpriseA · feetB · liesA · incompleteB
- 6 ABAB unknownA · seemB · stoneA · streamB
- 7 ABAB deathA · survivesB · breathA · livesB
- 8 ABAB highA · lightB · skyA · sightB
- 9 ABAB diesA · kenB · liesA · menB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Garlands upon his grave, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And flowers upon his hearse, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And to the tender heart and brave | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The tribute of this verse. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His was the troubled life, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| The conflict and the pain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The grief, the bitterness of strife, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The honor without stain. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Like Winkelried, he took | 5 | ····· |
| Into his manly breast | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The sheaf of hostile spears, and broke | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A path for the oppressed. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Then from the fatal field | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Upon a nation's heart | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Borne like a warrior on his shield!-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So should the brave depart. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Death takes us by surprise, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And stays our hurrying feet; | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| The great design unfinished lies, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Our lives are incomplete. | 7 | /˘··˘˘/ |
| But in the dark unknown | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Perfect their circles seem, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Even as a bridge's arch of stone | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| Is rounded in the stream. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Alike are life and death, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| When life in death survives, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And the uninterrupted breath | 8 | ···˘˘/˘· |
| Inspires a thousand lives. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Were a star quenched on high, | 7 | ····˘·· |
| For ages would its light, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Still travelling downward from the sky, | 8 | ·/˘˘/··· |
| Shine on our mortal sight. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| So when a great man dies, | 6 | ······ |
| For years beyond our ken, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The light he leaves behind him lies | 8 | ········ |
| Upon the paths of men. | 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.