The Norman Baron
Dans les moments de la vie ou la reflexion devient plus calmeet plus profonde, ou l'interet et l'avarice parlent moins hautque la raison, dans les instants de chagrin domestique, demaladie, et de peril de mort, les nobles se repentirent deposseder des serfs, comme d'une chose peu agreable a Dieu, quiavait cree tous les hommes a son image.--THIERRY, Conquete del'Angleterre.
In his chamber, weak and dying,Was the Norman baron lying;Loud, without, the tempest thunderedAnd the castle-turret shook,
In this fight was Death the gainer,Spite of vassal and retainer,And the lands his sires had plundered,Written in the Doomsday Book.
By his bed a monk was seated,Who in humble voice repeatedMany a prayer and pater-noster,From the missal on his knee;
And, amid the tempest pealing,Sounds of bells came faintly stealing,Bells, that from the neighboring klosterRang for the Nativity.
In the hall, the serf and vassalHeld, that night their Christmas wassail;Many a carol, old and saintly,Sang the minstrels and the waits;
And so loud these Saxon gleemenSang to slaves the songs of freemen,That the storm was heard but faintly,Knocking at the castle-gates.
Till at length the lays they chantedReached the chamber terror-haunted,Where the monk, with accents holy,Whispered at the baron's ear.
Tears upon his eyelids glistened,As he paused awhile and listened,And the dying baron slowlyTurned his weary head to hear.
"Wassail for the kingly strangerBorn and cradled in a manger!King, like David, priest, like Aaron,Christ is born to set us free!"
And the lightning showed the saintedFigures on the casement painted,And exclaimed the shuddering baron,"Miserere, Domine!"
In that hour of deep contritionHe beheld, with clearer vision,Through all outward show and fashion,Justice, the Avenger, rise.
All the pomp of earth had vanished,Falsehood and deceit were banished,Reason spake more loud than passion,And the truth wore no disguise.
Every vassal of his banner,Every serf born to his manor,All those wronged and wretched creatures,By his hand were freed again.
And, as on the sacred missalHe recorded their dismissal,Death relaxed his iron features,And the monk replied, "Amen!"
Many centuries have been numberedSince in death the baron slumberedBy the convent's sculptured portal,Mingling with the common dust:
But the good deed, through the agesLiving in historic pages,Brighter grows and gleams immortal,Unconsumed by moth or rust
Words in this poem 20
- chagrin n.
- Vexation; mortification. [F., fr. chagrin shagreen, a particular kind of rough and grained leather; also a rough fishskin used for graters and files; hence (Fig.), a gnawing, corroding g]
- mort n.
- A great quantity or number. [Cf. Icel. margt, neut. of margr many.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- doomsday n.
- A day of sentence or condemnation; day of death. [AS. d. See Doom, and Day.]
- missal n.
- The book containing the service of the Mass for the entire year; a Mass book. [LL. missale, liber missalis, from missa mass: cf. F. missel. See 1st Mass.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
- saintly a.
- Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- manger n.
- A trough or open box in which fodder is placed for horses or cattle to eat. [F. mangeoire, fr. manger to eat, fr. L. manducare, fr. mandere to chew. Cf. Mandible, Manducate.]
- sainted a.
- Consecrated; sacred; holy; pious.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- miserere n.
- The psalm usually appointed for penitential acts, being the 50th psalm in the Latin version. It commences with the word miserere. [L., have mercy, fr. misereri to have mercy, fr. miser. See Miser.]
- domine n.
- A name given to a pastor of the Reformed Church. The word is also applied locally in the United States, in colloquial speech, to any clergyman. [See Dominie.]
- contrition n.
- The act of grinding or ribbing to powder; attrition; friction; rubbing. [F. contrition, L. contritio.]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- dismissal n.
- Dismission; discharge.
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
- historic a.
- Of or pertaining to history, or the record of past events; as, an historical poem; the historic page. [L. historicus, Gr. historique. See History.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Norman Baron 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 Norman Baron, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-norman-baron.html, id L20839.
Form and metre
The Norman Baron is 71 lines in 17 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 --AAAA- calme · haut · deA · deA · quiA · deA · l'angleterre
- 2 BBCD dyingB · lyingB · thunderedC · shookD
- 3 EECD gainerE · retainerE · plunderedC · bookD
- 5 FF-- pealingF · stealingF · kloster · nativity
- 6 --GH vassal · wassail · saintlyG · waitsH
- 7 IIGH gleemenI · freemenI · faintlyG · gatesH
- 8 --JK chanted · haunted · holyJ · earK
- 9 LLJK glistenedL · listenedL · slowlyJ · hearK
- 10 MM-- strangerM · mangerM · aaron · free
- 12 --NO contrition · vision · fashionN · riseO
- 13 PPNO vanishedP · banishedP · passionN · disguiseO
- 14 QQRS bannerQ · manorQ · creaturesR · againS
- 15 TTRS missalT · dismissalT · featuresR · amenS
- 16 UUVW numberedU · slumberedU · portalV · dustW
- 17 XXVW agesX · pagesX · immortalV · rustW
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dans les moments de la vie ou la reflexion devient plus calme | 16 | ··/˘·····˘/˘···· |
| et plus profonde, ou l'interet et l'avarice parlent moins haut | 16 | ················ |
| que la raison, dans les instants de chagrin domestique, de | 15 | ··/˘··/˘·˘/···· |
| maladie, et de peril de mort, les nobles se repentirent de | 19 | ·····/˘···/˘·/····· |
| posseder des serfs, comme d'une chose peu agreable a Dieu, qui | 15 | ··············· |
| avait cree tous les hommes a son image.--THIERRY, Conquete de | 15 | ········/˘˘/··· |
| l'Angleterre. | 3 | ··· |
| In his chamber, weak and dying, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Was the Norman baron lying; | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Loud, without, the tempest thundered | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And the castle-turret shook, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In this fight was Death the gainer, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Spite of vassal and retainer, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And the lands his sires had plundered, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Written in the Doomsday Book. | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| By his bed a monk was seated, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Who in humble voice repeated | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Many a prayer and pater-noster, | 8 | /···/˘·· |
| From the missal on his knee; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And, amid the tempest pealing, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Sounds of bells came faintly stealing, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Bells, that from the neighboring kloster | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Rang for the Nativity. | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| In the hall, the serf and vassal | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Held, that night their Christmas wassail; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Many a carol, old and saintly, | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Sang the minstrels and the waits; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And so loud these Saxon gleemen | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Sang to slaves the songs of freemen, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That the storm was heard but faintly, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Knocking at the castle-gates. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Till at length the lays they chanted | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Reached the chamber terror-haunted, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Where the monk, with accents holy, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Whispered at the baron's ear. | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Tears upon his eyelids glistened, | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| As he paused awhile and listened, | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| And the dying baron slowly | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Turned his weary head to hear. | 8 | ·˘·/˘··· |
| "Wassail for the kingly stranger | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Born and cradled in a manger! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| King, like David, priest, like Aaron, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Christ is born to set us free!" | 7 | ······· |
| And the lightning showed the sainted | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Figures on the casement painted, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| And exclaimed the shuddering baron, | 9 | ·˘/·/˘˘/˘ |
| "Miserere, Domine!" | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| In that hour of deep contrition | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| He beheld, with clearer vision, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Through all outward show and fashion, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Justice, the Avenger, rise. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| All the pomp of earth had vanished, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Falsehood and deceit were banished, | 8 | /··˘/·/˘ |
| Reason spake more loud than passion, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| And the truth wore no disguise. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Every vassal of his banner, | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Every serf born to his manor, | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| All those wronged and wretched creatures, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| By his hand were freed again. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And, as on the sacred missal | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| He recorded their dismissal, | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Death relaxed his iron features, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| And the monk replied, "Amen!" | 7 | ···˘/˘/ |
| Many centuries have been numbered | 9 | /˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Since in death the baron slumbered | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| By the convent's sculptured portal, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Mingling with the common dust: | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| But the good deed, through the ages | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Living in historic pages, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Brighter grows and gleams immortal, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Unconsumed by moth or rust | 8 | ···˘···· |
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