St. Mary's Bells
It's pleasant in Holy MaryBy San Marie lagoon,The bells they chime and jingleFrom dawn to afternoon.They rhyme and chime and mingle,They pulse and boom and beat,And the laughing bells are gentleAnd the mournful bells are sweet.
Oh, who are the men that ring them,The bells of San Marie,Oh, who but sonsie seamenCome in from over sea,And merrily in the belfriesThey rock and sway and hale,And send the bells a-jangle,And down the lusty ale.
It's pleasant in Holy MaryTo hear the beaten bellsCome booming into music,Which throbs, and clangs, and swells,From sunset till the daybreak,From dawn to afternoon.In port of Holy MaryOn San Marie lagoon.
Words in this poem
- lagoon n.
- A shallow sound, channel, pond, or lake, especially one into which the sea flows; as, the lagoons of Venice. [It. or Sp. laguna, L. lacuna ditch, pool, pond,lacus lake. See Lake, and cf. Lacuna.]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- jingle v. i.
- To sound with a fine, sharp, rattling, clinking, or tinkling sound; as, sleigh bells jingle. [OE. gingelen, ginglen; prob. akin to E. chink; cf. also E. jangle.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- jangle v. i.
- To sound harshly or discordantly, as bells out of tune. [OE. janglen to quarrel, OF. jangler to rail, quarrel; of Dutch or German origin; cf. D. jangelen, janken, to whimper, chide, brawl, quarrel.]
- daybreak n.
- The time of the first appearance of light in the morning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
St. Mary's Bells 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, St. Mary's Bells, 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/st-mary-s-bells.html, id L24994.
Form and metre
St. Mary's Bells is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 -ABABC-C mary · lagoonA · jingleB · afternoonA · mingleB · beatC · gentle · sweetC
- 2 -A-A-BBB them · marieA · seamen · seaA · belfries · haleB · jangleB · aleB
- 3 ABCBCDAD maryA · bellsB · musicC · swellsB · daybreakC · afternoonD · maryA · lagoonD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It's pleasant in Holy Mary | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| By San Marie lagoon, | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| The bells they chime and jingle | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From dawn to afternoon. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| They rhyme and chime and mingle, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| They pulse and boom and beat, | 6 | ······ |
| And the laughing bells are gentle | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the mournful bells are sweet. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oh, who are the men that ring them, | 8 | ········ |
| The bells of San Marie, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Oh, who but sonsie seamen | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Come in from over sea, | 6 | ······ |
| And merrily in the belfries | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| They rock and sway and hale, | 6 | ······ |
| And send the bells a-jangle, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And down the lusty ale. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It's pleasant in Holy Mary | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| To hear the beaten bells | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Come booming into music, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Which throbs, and clangs, and swells, | 6 | ······ |
| From sunset till the daybreak, | 7 | ·/···/· |
| From dawn to afternoon. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In port of Holy Mary | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| On San Marie lagoon. | 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.