The Warden of the Cinque Ports
A mist was driving down the British Channel,The day was just begun,And through the window-panes, on floor and panel,Streamed the red autumn sun.
It glanced on flowing flag and rippling pennon,And the white sails of ships;And, from the frowning rampart, the black cannonHailed it with feverish lips.
Sandwich and Romney, Hastings, Hithe, and DoverWere all alert that day,To see the French war-steamers speeding over,When the fog cleared away.
Sullen and silent, and like couchant lions,Their cannon, through the night,Holding their breath, had watched, in grim defiance,The sea-coast opposite.
And now they roared at drum-beat from their stationsOn every citadel;Each answering each, with morning salutations,That all was well.
And down the coast, all taking up the burden,Replied the distant forts,As if to summon from his sleep the WardenAnd Lord of the Cinque Ports.
Him shall no sunshine from the fields of azure,No drum-beat from the wall,No morning gun from the black fort's embrasure,Awaken with its call!
No more, surveying with an eye impartialThe long line of the coast,Shall the gaunt figure of the old Field MarshalBe seen upon his post!
For in the night, unseen, a single warrior,In sombre harness mailed,Dreaded of man, and surnamed the Destroyer,The rampart wall has scaled.
He passed into the chamber of the sleeper,The dark and silent room,And as he entered, darker grew, and deeper,The silence and the gloom.
He did not pause to parley or dissemble,But smote the Warden hoar;Ah! what a blow! that made all England trembleAnd groan from shore to shore.
Meanwhile, without, the surly cannon waited,The sun rose bright o'erhead;Nothing in Nature's aspect intimatedThat a great man was dead.
Words in this poem 18
- pennon n.
- A wing; a pinion. [Cf. Pinion.]
- hastings n.
- Early fruit or vegetables; especially, early pease. Mortimer. [From Haste, v.]
- hithe n.
- A port or small haven; -- used in composition; as, Lambhithe, now Lambeth. Pennant. [AS. hHide to conceal.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- couchant a.
- Lying down with head erect; squatting. [F., p. pr. of coucher. See Couch, v. t.]
- cinque n.
- Five; the number five in dice or cards. [F. cinq, fr. L. quinque five. See Five.]
- 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,]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- mailed a.
- Protected by an external coat, or covering, of scales or plates.
- scaled a.
- Covered with scales, or scalelike structures; -- said of a fish, a reptile, a moth, etc.
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
- dissemble v. t.
- To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. [OF. dissembler to be dissimilar; pref. dis- (L. dis-) + F. sembler to seem, L. simulare to simulate; cf. L. dissimulare to dissemble. See Simulate, and cf. Diss]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- surly a.
- Arrogant; haughty. Cotgrave. [Probably from sir, and originally meaning, sirlike, i.e., proud. See Sir, and Like, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Warden of the Cinque Ports 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 Warden of the Cinque Ports, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-warden-of-the-cinque-ports.html, id L17618.
Form and metre
The Warden of the Cinque Ports is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 12 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 23 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 ABAB channelA · begunB · panelA · sunB
- 2 -A-A pennon · shipsA · cannon · lipsA
- 3 ABAB doverA · dayB · overA · awayB
- 4 -A-A lions · nightA · defiance · oppositeA
- 5 ABAB stationsA · citadelB · salutationsA · wellB
- 6 -A-A burden · fortsA · warden · portsA
- 7 -A-A azure · wallA · embrasure · callA
- 8 ABAB impartialA · coastB · marshalA · postB
- 9 -A-A warrior · mailedA · destroyer · scaledA
- 10 ABAB sleeperA · roomB · deeperA · gloomB
- 11 ABAB dissembleA · hoarB · trembleA · shoreB
- 12 ABAB waitedA · o'erheadB · intimatedA · deadB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A mist was driving down the British Channel, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The day was just begun, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And through the window-panes, on floor and panel, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Streamed the red autumn sun. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It glanced on flowing flag and rippling pennon, | 11 | ···/··/˘˘/˘ |
| And the white sails of ships; | 6 | ······ |
| And, from the frowning rampart, the black cannon | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Hailed it with feverish lips. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Sandwich and Romney, Hastings, Hithe, and Dover | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Were all alert that day, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| To see the French war-steamers speeding over, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| When the fog cleared away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Sullen and silent, and like couchant lions, | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Their cannon, through the night, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Holding their breath, had watched, in grim defiance, | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| The sea-coast opposite. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And now they roared at drum-beat from their stations | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| On every citadel; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Each answering each, with morning salutations, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| That all was well. | 4 | ···· |
| And down the coast, all taking up the burden, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Replied the distant forts, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| As if to summon from his sleep the Warden | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And Lord of the Cinque Ports. | 6 | ······ |
| Him shall no sunshine from the fields of azure, | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| No drum-beat from the wall, | 6 | ······ |
| No morning gun from the black fort's embrasure, | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Awaken with its call! | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| No more, surveying with an eye impartial | 11 | ··˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| The long line of the coast, | 6 | ······ |
| Shall the gaunt figure of the old Field Marshal | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Be seen upon his post! | 6 | ······ |
| For in the night, unseen, a single warrior, | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| In sombre harness mailed, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Dreaded of man, and surnamed the Destroyer, | 11 | /˘···/··˘/˘ |
| The rampart wall has scaled. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He passed into the chamber of the sleeper, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| The dark and silent room, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And as he entered, darker grew, and deeper, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| The silence and the gloom. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He did not pause to parley or dissemble, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| But smote the Warden hoar; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Ah! what a blow! that made all England tremble | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And groan from shore to shore. | 6 | ······ |
| Meanwhile, without, the surly cannon waited, | 11 | /····/˘/˘/˘ |
| The sun rose bright o'erhead; | 6 | ······ |
| Nothing in Nature's aspect intimated | 11 | /˘·/˘/·/˘·˘ |
| That a great man was dead. | 6 | ······ |
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.