Laurel · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems

The Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) · 1839–1882

iambic tetrameter · AABCCB · 48 lines · from A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems

In that desolate land and lone,Where the Big Horn and YellowstoneRoar down their mountain path,By their fires the Sioux ChiefsMuttered their woes and griefsAnd the menace of their wrath.

"Revenge!" cried Rain-in-the-Face,"Revenue upon all the raceOf the White Chief with yellow hair!"And the mountains dark and highFrom their crags re-echoed the cryOf his anger and despair.

In the meadow, spreading wideBy woodland and riversideThe Indian village stood;All was silent as a dream,Save the rushing a of the streamAnd the blue-jay in the wood.

In his war paint and his beads,Like a bison among the reeds,In ambush the Sitting BullLay with three thousand bravesCrouched in the clefts and caves,Savage, unmerciful!

Into the fatal snareThe White Chief with yellow hairAnd his three hundred menDashed headlong, sword in hand;But of that gallant bandNot one returned again.

The sudden darkness of deathOverwhelmed them like the breathAnd smoke of a furnace fire:By the river's bank, and betweenThe rocks of the ravine,They lay in their bloody attire.

But the foemen fled in the night,And Rain-in-the-Face, in his flightUplifted high in airAs a ghastly trophy, boreThe brave heart, that beat no more,Of the White Chief with yellow hair.

Whose was the right and the wrong?Sing it, O funeral song,With a voice that is full of tears,And say that our broken faithWrought all this ruin and scathe,In the Year of a Hundred Years.

Words in this poem

lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
riverside n.: The side or bank of a river.
crouched a.: Marked with the sign of the cross. Crouched friar. See Crutched friar, under Crutched.
unmerciful a.: Not merciful; indisposed to mercy or grace; cruel; inhuman; merciless; unkind.
trophy n.: A sign or memorial of a victory raised on the field of battle, or, in case of a naval victory, on the nearest land. Sometimes trophies were erected in the chief city of the conquered people. [F. trophée (cf. It. & Sp. trofeo), L. tropaeum, trophaeum, Gr. Trope.]
scathe v. t.: To do harm to; to injure; to damage; to waste; to destroy. [Icel. skatha; akin to AS. sceathan, sceth\'eban, Dan. skade, Sw. skada, D. & G. schaden, OHG. scadon, Goth. skaÞjan.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face 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 Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-revenge-of-rain-in-the-face.html, id L17784.

Form and metre

The Revenge of Rain-In-The-Face is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in iambic 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 AABCCB lone^A · yellowstone^A · path^B · chiefs^C · griefs^C · wrath^B
2 AABCCB face^A · race^A · hair^B · high^C · cry^C · despair^B
3 AABCCB wide^A · riverside^A · stood^B · dream^C · stream^C · wood^B
4 AABCCB beads^A · reeds^A · bull^B · braves^C · caves^C · unmerciful^B
5 AABCCB snare^A · hair^A · men^B · hand^C · band^C · again^B
6 AABCCB death^A · breath^A · fire^B · between^C · ravine^C · attire^B
7 AABCCB night^A · flight^A · air^B · bore^C · more^C · hair^B
8 AABCCB wrong^A · song^A · tears^B · faith^C · scathe^C · years^B

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 tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
In that desolate land and lone,	8	··/˘····
Where the Big Horn and Yellowstone	8	·····/˘·
Roar down their mountain path,	6	···/˘·
By their fires the Sioux Chiefs	7	··/˘···
Muttered their woes and griefs	7	/˘˘····
And the menace of their wrath.	7	··/˘···
"Revenge!" cried Rain-in-the-Face,	7	˘/·····
"Revenue upon all the race	8	/˘······
Of the White Chief with yellow hair!"	8	·····/˘·
And the mountains dark and high	7	··/˘···
From their crags re-echoed the cry	8	····/˘··
Of his anger and despair.	7	··/˘·˘/
In the meadow, spreading wide	7	··/·/˘·
By woodland and riverside	7	·/··/˘·
The Indian village stood;	7	·/˘˘/˘·
All was silent as a dream,	7	··/˘···
Save the rushing a of the stream	8	··/˘····
And the blue-jay in the wood.	7	·······
In his war paint and his beads,	7	·······
Like a bison among the reeds,	8	··/˘····
In ambush the Sitting Bull	7	·/··/˘·
Lay with three thousand braves	6	···/˘·
Crouched in the clefts and caves,	7	·˘·····
Savage, unmerciful!	6	/˘˘/˘˘
Into the fatal snare	6	···/˘·
The White Chief with yellow hair	7	····/˘·
And his three hundred men	7	···/˘˘·
Dashed headlong, sword in hand;	7	·˘/····
But of that gallant band	6	···/˘·
Not one returned again.	7	··˘/˘˘/
The sudden darkness of death	7	·/˘/˘··
Overwhelmed them like the breath	8	·˘/˘····
And smoke of a furnace fire:	8	····/˘/˘
By the river's bank, and between	8	··/˘····
The rocks of the ravine,	6	····˘/
They lay in their bloody attire.	9	····/˘˘/˘
But the foemen fled in the night,	8	········
And Rain-in-the-Face, in his flight	8	········
Uplifted high in air	6	/˘˘···
As a ghastly trophy, bore	7	··/˘/˘·
The brave heart, that beat no more,	7	·······
Of the White Chief with yellow hair.	8	·····/˘·
Whose was the right and the wrong?	7	·······
Sing it, O funeral song,	7	···/˘˘·
With a voice that is full of tears,	8	········
And say that our broken faith	8	···/˘/˘·
Wrought all this ruin and scathe,	7	···/˘··
In the Year of a Hundred Years.	8	·····/˘·

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.

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