Rising
Death to the soul through all eternity!Alas that I should see you growing upTo man's estate, and in the admonitionAnd nurture of the law, to find you nowPleading for Heretics!
JOHN ENDICOTT (rising).In the sight of God,Perhaps all men are Heretics. Who daresTo say that he alone has found the truth?We cannot always feel and think and actAs those who go before us. Had you done so,You would not now be here.
Have you forgottenThe doom of Heretics, and the fate of thoseWho aid and comfort them? Have you forgottenThat in the market-place this very dayYou trampled on the laws? What right have you,An inexperienced and untravelled youth,To sit in judgment here upon the actsOf older men and wiser than yourself,Thus stirring up sedition in the streets,And making me a byword and a jest?
Words of an inexperienced youth like meWere powerless if the acts of older menWere not before them. 'T is these laws themselvesStir up sedition, not my judgment of them.
Take heed, lest I be called, as Brutus was,To be the judge of my own son. Begone!When you are tired of feeding upon husks,Return again to duty and submission,But not till then.
I hear and I obey!Oh happy, happy they who have no children!He's gone! I hear the hall door shut behind him.It sends a dismal echo through my heart,As if forever it had closed between us,And I should look upon his face no more!Oh, this will drag me down into my grave,--To that eternal resting-place whereinMan lieth down, and riseth not again!Till the heavens be no more, he shall not wake,Nor be roused from his sleep; for Thou dost changeHis countenance and sendest him away!
Words in this poem
- byword n.
- A common saying; a proverb; a saying that has a general currency. [AS.bïword; bï, E.by+word.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rising 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, Rising, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/rising.html, id L17959.
Form and metre
Rising is 43 lines in 6 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 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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.
- 3 A-A------- forgottenA · those · forgottenA · day · you · youth · acts · yourself · streets · jest
- 5 ---AA was · begone · husks · submissionA · thenA
- 6 A----------A obeyA · children · him · heart · us · more · grave · wherein · again · wake · change · awayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Death to the soul through all eternity! | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Alas that I should see you growing up | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| To man's estate, and in the admonition | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| And nurture of the law, to find you now | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Pleading for Heretics! | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| JOHN ENDICOTT (rising). | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| In the sight of God, | 5 | ····· |
| Perhaps all men are Heretics. Who dares | 10 | ˘/···/˘˘·· |
| To say that he alone has found the truth? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| We cannot always feel and think and act | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| As those who go before us. Had you done so, | 11 | ··········· |
| You would not now be here. | 6 | ······ |
| Have you forgotten | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| The doom of Heretics, and the fate of those | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who aid and comfort them? Have you forgotten | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| That in the market-place this very day | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| You trampled on the laws? What right have you, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| An inexperienced and untravelled youth, | 10 | ·˘˘/˘····· |
| To sit in judgment here upon the acts | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of older men and wiser than yourself, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Thus stirring up sedition in the streets, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And making me a byword and a jest? | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Words of an inexperienced youth like me | 10 | ···˘˘/˘··· |
| Were powerless if the acts of older men | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Were not before them. 'T is these laws themselves | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Stir up sedition, not my judgment of them. | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Take heed, lest I be called, as Brutus was, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To be the judge of my own son. Begone! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| When you are tired of feeding upon husks, | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Return again to duty and submission, | 11 | ˘/˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| But not till then. | 4 | ···· |
| I hear and I obey! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Oh happy, happy they who have no children! | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| He's gone! I hear the hall door shut behind him. | 11 | ··········· |
| It sends a dismal echo through my heart, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| As if forever it had closed between us, | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| And I should look upon his face no more! | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh, this will drag me down into my grave,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| To that eternal resting-place wherein | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Man lieth down, and riseth not again! | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Till the heavens be no more, he shall not wake, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Nor be roused from his sleep; for Thou dost change | 10 | ·········· |
| His countenance and sendest him away! | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
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.