A Creed
I hold that when a person diesHis soul returns again to earth;Arrayed in some new flesh-disguiseAnother mother gives him birth.With sturdier limbs and brighter brainThe old soul takes the roads again.
Such is my own belief and trust;This hand, this hand that holds the pen,Has many a hundred times been dustAnd turned, as dust, to dust again;These eyes of mine have blinked and shoneIn Thebes, in Troy, in Babylon.
All that I rightly think or do,Or make, or spoil, or bless, or blast,Is curse or blessing justly dueFor sloth or effort in the past.My life's a statement of the sumOf vice indulged, or overcome.
I know that in my lives to beMy sorry heart will ache and burn,And worship, unavailingly,The woman whom I used to spurn,And shake to see another haveThe love I spurned, the love she gave.
And I shall know, in angry words,In gibes, and mocks, and many a tear,A carrion flock of homing-birds,The gibes and scorns I uttered here.The brave word that I failed to speakWill brand me dastard on the cheek.
And as I wander on the roadsI shall be helped and healed and blessed;Dear words shall cheer and be as goadsTo urge to heights before unguessed.My road shall be the road I made;All that I gave shall be repaid.
So shall I fight, so shall I tread,In this long war beneath the stars;So shall a glory wreathe my head,So shall I faint and show the scars,Until this case, this clogging mould,Be smithied all to kingly gold.
Words in this poem
- rightly adv.
- Straightly; directly; in front. [AS. richtlice.]
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- 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,]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- dastard n.
- One who meanly shrinks from danger; an arrant coward; a poltroon. [Prob. from Icel. dæstr exhausted. breathless, p. p. of dæsa to groan, lose one's breath; cf. dasask to become exhausted, and E. daze.]
- clogging n.
- Anything which clogs. Dr. H. More.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Creed is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, A Creed, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/a-creed.html, id L25013.
Form and metre
A Creed is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABABCC diesA · earthB · disguiseA · birthB · brainC · againC
- 2 ABAB-- trustA · penB · dustA · againB · shone · babylon
- 3 ABABCC doA · blastB · dueA · pastB · sumC · overcomeC
- 4 -A-ABB be · burnA · unavailingly · spurnA · haveB · gaveB
- 5 ABABCC wordsA · tearB · birdsA · hereB · speakC · cheekC
- 6 ABABCC roadsA · blessedB · goadsA · unguessedB · madeC · repaidC
- 7 ABABCC treadA · starsB · headA · scarsB · mouldC · goldC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I hold that when a person dies | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His soul returns again to earth; | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| Arrayed in some new flesh-disguise | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Another mother gives him birth. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| With sturdier limbs and brighter brain | 8 | ·/˘˘··/· |
| The old soul takes the roads again. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Such is my own belief and trust; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| This hand, this hand that holds the pen, | 8 | ········ |
| Has many a hundred times been dust | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| And turned, as dust, to dust again; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| These eyes of mine have blinked and shone | 8 | ········ |
| In Thebes, in Troy, in Babylon. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| All that I rightly think or do, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or make, or spoil, or bless, or blast, | 8 | ········ |
| Is curse or blessing justly due | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For sloth or effort in the past. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My life's a statement of the sum | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of vice indulged, or overcome. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| I know that in my lives to be | 8 | ········ |
| My sorry heart will ache and burn, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And worship, unavailingly, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The woman whom I used to spurn, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And shake to see another have | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The love I spurned, the love she gave. | 8 | ········ |
| And I shall know, in angry words, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In gibes, and mocks, and many a tear, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| A carrion flock of homing-birds, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The gibes and scorns I uttered here. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The brave word that I failed to speak | 8 | ········ |
| Will brand me dastard on the cheek. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And as I wander on the roads | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I shall be helped and healed and blessed; | 8 | ········ |
| Dear words shall cheer and be as goads | 8 | ········ |
| To urge to heights before unguessed. | 8 | ········ |
| My road shall be the road I made; | 8 | ········ |
| All that I gave shall be repaid. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So shall I fight, so shall I tread, | 8 | ········ |
| In this long war beneath the stars; | 8 | ········ |
| So shall a glory wreathe my head, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So shall I faint and show the scars, | 8 | ········ |
| Until this case, this clogging mould, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be smithied all to kingly gold. | 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.