The Harper's Song
This sweetness trembling from the stringsThe music of my troublous luteHath timed Herodias' daughter's foot;Setting a-clink her ankle-ringsWhenas she danced to feasted kings.
Where gemmed apparel burned and caughtThe sunset 'neath the golden dome,To the dark beauties of old RomeMy sorrowful lute hath haply broughtSad memories sweet with tender thought.
When night had fallen and lights and firesWere darkened in the homes of men,Some sighing echo stirred:--and thenThe old cunning wakened from the wiresThe old sorrows and the old desires.
Dead Kings in long forgotten lands,And all dead beauteous women; someWhose pride imperial hath becomeOld armour rusting in the sandsAnd shards of iron in dusty hands,
Have heard my lyre's soft rise and fallGo trembling down the paven ways,Till every heart was all ablaze--Hasty each foot--to obey the callTo triumph or to funeral.
Could I begin again the slowSweet mournful music filled with tears,Surely the old, dead, dusty earsWould hear; the old drowsy eyes would glow,Old memories come; old hopes and fears,And time restore the long ago.
Words in this poem
- troublous a.
- Full of trouble; causing trouble.
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- ablaze adv.
- On fire; in a blaze, gleaming. Milman. [Pref. a- + blaze.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Harper's Song 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, The Harper's Song, 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/the-harper-s-song.html, id L25006.
Form and metre
The Harper's Song is 31 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBAA, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 A--AA stringsA · lute · foot · ringsA · kingsA
- 2 ABBAA caughtA · domeB · romeB · broughtA · thoughtA
- 3 ABBAA firesA · menB · thenB · wiresA · desiresA
- 4 ABBAA landsA · someB · becomeB · sandsA · handsA
- 5 ABBAA fallA · waysB · ablazeB · callA · funeralA
- 6 ABBABA slowA · tearsB · earsB · glowA · fearsB · agoA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This sweetness trembling from the strings | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The music of my troublous lute | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Hath timed Herodias' daughter's foot; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Setting a-clink her ankle-rings | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Whenas she danced to feasted kings. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Where gemmed apparel burned and caught | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The sunset 'neath the golden dome, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| To the dark beauties of old Rome | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My sorrowful lute hath haply brought | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sad memories sweet with tender thought. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When night had fallen and lights and fires | 9 | ···/˘···/ |
| Were darkened in the homes of men, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some sighing echo stirred:--and then | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The old cunning wakened from the wires | 9 | ··/˘/˘··/ |
| The old sorrows and the old desires. | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| Dead Kings in long forgotten lands, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And all dead beauteous women; some | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Whose pride imperial hath become | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Old armour rusting in the sands | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And shards of iron in dusty hands, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Have heard my lyre's soft rise and fall | 8 | ········ |
| Go trembling down the paven ways, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Till every heart was all ablaze-- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Hasty each foot--to obey the call | 9 | /˘···˘/·· |
| To triumph or to funeral. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Could I begin again the slow | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| Sweet mournful music filled with tears, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Surely the old, dead, dusty ears | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Would hear; the old drowsy eyes would glow, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Old memories come; old hopes and fears, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And time restore the long ago. | 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.