Returning to the Disciples
What! could ye not watch with me for one hour?Oh watch and pray, that ye may enter notInto temptation. For the spirit indeedIs willing, but the flesh is weak!
Alas!It is for sorrow that our eyes are heavy.--I see again the glimmer of those torchesAmong the olives; they are coming hither.
Outside the garden wall the path divides;Surely they come not hither.
CHRISTUS, as before.O my Father!If this cup may not pass away from me,Except I drink of it, thy will be done.
Beloved Master,Alas! we know not what to answer thee!It is for sorrow that our eves are heavy.--Behold, the torches now encompass us.
They do but go about the garden wall,Seeking for some one, or for something lost.
CHRISTUS, as before.If this cup may not pass away from me,Except I drink of it, thy will be done.
It is enough! Behold, the Son of ManHath been betrayed into the hands of sinners!The hour is come. Rise up, let us be going;For he that shall betray me is at hand.
Ah me! See, from his forehead, in the torchlight,Great drops of blood are falling to the ground!
What lights are these? What torches glare and glistenUpon the swords and armor of these men?And there among them Judas Iscariot!
Put up thy sword into its sheath; for theyThat take the sword shall perish with the sword.The cup my Father hath given me to drink,Shall I not drink it? Think'st thou that I cannotPray to my Father, and that he shall give meMore than twelve legions of angels presently!
JUDAS to CHRISTUS, kissing him.Hail, Master! hail!
Friend, wherefore art thou come?Whom seek ye?
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- torchlight n.
- The light of a torch, or of torches. Also adjectively; as, a torchlight procession.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Returning to the Disciples 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, Returning to the Disciples, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/returning-to-the-disciples.html, id L17886.
Form and metre
Returning to the Disciples is 42 lines in 13 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
- 10 AA- glistenA · menA · iscariot
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What! could ye not watch with me for one hour? | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Oh watch and pray, that ye may enter not | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Into temptation. For the spirit indeed | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘/ |
| Is willing, but the flesh is weak! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alas! | 2 | ˘/ |
| It is for sorrow that our eyes are heavy.-- | 11 | ···/˘·/··/˘ |
| I see again the glimmer of those torches | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| Among the olives; they are coming hither. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Outside the garden wall the path divides; | 10 | //·/˘···˘/ |
| Surely they come not hither. | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| CHRISTUS, as before. | 5 | ····· |
| O my Father! | 4 | ··/˘ |
| If this cup may not pass away from me, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Except I drink of it, thy will be done. | 10 | ·········· |
| Beloved Master, | 4 | ˘//˘ |
| Alas! we know not what to answer thee! | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| It is for sorrow that our eves are heavy.-- | 11 | ···/˘·/··/˘ |
| Behold, the torches now encompass us. | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| They do but go about the garden wall, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Seeking for some one, or for something lost. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| CHRISTUS, as before. | 5 | ····· |
| If this cup may not pass away from me, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Except I drink of it, thy will be done. | 10 | ·········· |
| It is enough! Behold, the Son of Man | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Hath been betrayed into the hands of sinners! | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| The hour is come. Rise up, let us be going; | 11 | ·/·······/˘ |
| For he that shall betray me is at hand. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Ah me! See, from his forehead, in the torchlight, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Great drops of blood are falling to the ground! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What lights are these? What torches glare and glisten | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Upon the swords and armor of these men? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And there among them Judas Iscariot! | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Put up thy sword into its sheath; for they | 10 | ·········· |
| That take the sword shall perish with the sword. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The cup my Father hath given me to drink, | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| Shall I not drink it? Think'st thou that I cannot | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Pray to my Father, and that he shall give me | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| More than twelve legions of angels presently! | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| JUDAS to CHRISTUS, kissing him. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Hail, Master! hail! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Friend, wherefore art thou come? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Whom seek ye? | 3 | ··· |
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.