A Consecration
NOT of the princes and prelates with periwigged charioteersRiding triumphantly laurelled to lap the fat of the years,--Rather the scorned--the rejected--the men hemmed in with the spears;
The men of the tattered battalion which fights till it dies,Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries,The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes.
Not the be-medalled Commander, beloved of the throne,Riding cock-horse to parade when the bugles are blown,But the lads who carried the koppie and cannot be known.
Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road,The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad,The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load.
The sailor, the stoker of steamers, the man with the clout,The chantyman bent at the halliards putting a tune to the shout,The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired look-out.
Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth,The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth;--Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth!
THEIRS be the music, the colour, the glory, the gold;Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould.Of the maimed, of the halt and the blind in the rain and the cold--
Words in this poem
- triumphantly adv.
- In a triumphant manner.
- battalion n.
- A body of troops; esp. a body of troops or an army in battle array. [F. bataillon, fr. It. battaglione. See Battalia.]
- ranker n.
- One who ranks, or disposes in ranks; one who arranges.
- stoker n.
- One who is employed to tend a furnace and supply it with fuel, especially the furnace of a locomotive or of a marine steam boiler; also, a machine for feeding fuel to a fire. [D. See Stoke, v. t.]
- clout n.
- A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag. [AS. clut a little cloth, piece of metal; cf. Sw. klut, Icel. klutr a kerchief, or W. clwt a clout, Gael. clud.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- portly a.
- Having a dignified port or mien; of a noble appearance; imposing. [From Port demeanor.]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- handful n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
- mouthful n.
- As much as is usually put into the mouth at one time.
- 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 Consecration is in the public domain. This text is taken from Salt-Water Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #52761; 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 Consecration, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/a-consecration.html, id L12645.
Form and metre
A Consecration is 21 lines in 7 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.1 syllables.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic pentameter.
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 AAA charioteersA · yearsA · spearsA
- 2 AAA diesA · criesA · eyesA
- 3 AAA throneA · blownA · knownA
- 4 AAA roadA · goadA · loadA
- 5 AAA cloutA · shoutA · outA
- 6 AAA mirthA · girthA · earthA
- 7 AAA goldA · mouldA · coldA
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 anapaestic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| NOT of the princes and prelates with periwigged charioteers | 15 | ···/˘·/˘······· |
| Riding triumphantly laurelled to lap the fat of the years,-- | 15 | /˘˘/˘˘/˘······· |
| Rather the scorned--the rejected--the men hemmed in with the spears; | 15 | /˘···˘/˘······· |
| The men of the tattered battalion which fights till it dies, | 14 | ····/˘˘/˘····· |
| Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries, | 13 | ······/˘····· |
| The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes. | 16 | ····/˘····/˘···· |
| Not the be-medalled Commander, beloved of the throne, | 13 | ···/˘˘/˘˘/··· |
| Riding cock-horse to parade when the bugles are blown, | 13 | /˘···˘/··/˘·· |
| But the lads who carried the koppie and cannot be known. | 14 | ····/˘····/˘·· |
| Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road, | 15 | ··/˘····/˘····· |
| The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad, | 14 | ·······/˘····· |
| The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load. | 14 | ····/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| The sailor, the stoker of steamers, the man with the clout, | 14 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘····· |
| The chantyman bent at the halliards putting a tune to the shout, | 16 | ·········/˘····· |
| The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired look-out. | 13 | ·/˘······/˘·· |
| Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth, | 13 | /˘··········· |
| The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth;-- | 13 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth! | 14 | ·············· |
| THEIRS be the music, the colour, the glory, the gold; | 13 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould. | 13 | ···/··/˘·/··· |
| Of the maimed, of the halt and the blind in the rain and the cold-- | 15 | ··············· |
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