The Emperor's Glove
On St. Baron's tower, commandingHalf of Flanders, his domain,Charles the Emperor once was standing,While beneath him on the landingStood Duke Alva and his train.
Like a print in books of fables,Or a model made for show,With its pointed roofs and gables,Dormer windows, scrolls and labels,Lay the city far below.
Through its squares and streets and alleysPoured the populace of Ghent;As a routed army rallies,Or as rivers run through valleys,Hurrying to their homes they went
"Nest of Lutheran misbelievers!"Cried Duke Alva as he gazed;"Haunt of traitors and deceivers,Stronghold of insurgent weavers,Let it to the ground be razed!"
On the Emperor's cap the featherNods, as laughing he replies:"How many skins of Spanish leather,Think you, would, if stitched togetherMake a glove of such a size?"
Words in this poem
- duke n.
- A leader; a chief; a prince. [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. teón to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke]
- dormer n.
- A window pierced in a roof, and so set as to be vertical while the roof slopes away from it. Also, the gablet, or houselike structure, in which it is contained. [Literally, the window of a sleeping apartment. F. dormir to sleep. See Dormant, a. & n.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- insurgent a.
- Rising in opposition to civil or political authority, or against an established government; insubordinate; rebellious. [L. insurgens, p. pr. of insurgere to rise up; pref. in- in + surgere to rise. See Surge.]
- razed a.
- Slashed or striped in patterns.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Emperor's Glove 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, The Emperor's Glove, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-emperor-s-glove.html, id L17786.
Form and metre
The Emperor's Glove is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 ABAAB commandingA · domainB · standingA · landingA · trainB
- 2 ABAAB fablesA · showB · gablesA · labelsA · belowB
- 3 ABAAB alleysA · ghentB · ralliesA · valleysA · wentB
- 4 ABAAB misbelieversA · gazedB · deceiversA · weaversA · razedB
- 5 ABAAB featherA · repliesB · leatherA · togetherA · sizeB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| On St. Baron's tower, commanding | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Half of Flanders, his domain, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Charles the Emperor once was standing, | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| While beneath him on the landing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Stood Duke Alva and his train. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Like a print in books of fables, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Or a model made for show, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With its pointed roofs and gables, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Dormer windows, scrolls and labels, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Lay the city far below. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Through its squares and streets and alleys | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Poured the populace of Ghent; | 8 | ·˘·/˘˘·· |
| As a routed army rallies, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Or as rivers run through valleys, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Hurrying to their homes they went | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| "Nest of Lutheran misbelievers!" | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Cried Duke Alva as he gazed; | 8 | ··/˘···˘ |
| "Haunt of traitors and deceivers, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Stronghold of insurgent weavers, | 8 | /··˘/˘/˘ |
| Let it to the ground be razed!" | 8 | ·······˘ |
| On the Emperor's cap the feather | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Nods, as laughing he replies: | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| "How many skins of Spanish leather, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Think you, would, if stitched together | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Make a glove of such a size?" | 7 | ······· |
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.