‘Rest Her Soul, She’s Dead’
She has done with the sea’s sorrow and the world’s wayAnd the wind’s grief;Strew her with laurel, cover her with bayAnd ivy-leaf.Let the slow mournful music sound before her,Strew the white flowers about the bier, and o’er herThe sleepy poppies red beyond belief.
On the black velvet covering her eyesLet the dull earth be thrown;Hers is the mightier silence of the skies,And long, quiet rest alone.Over the pure, dark, wistful eyes of her,O’er all the human, all that dies of her,Gently let flowers be strown.
Lay her away in quiet old peaceful earth(This blossom of ours),She has done with the world’s anger and the world’s mirth,Sunshine and rain-showers;And over the poor, sad, tired face of her,In the long grass above the place of her(The grass which hides the glory and the grace of her),May the Spring bring the flowers.
Words in this poem
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- 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.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
‘Rest Her Soul, She’s Dead’ 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, ‘Rest Her Soul, She’s Dead’, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/rest-her-soul-she-s-dead.html, id L12686.
Form and metre
‘Rest Her Soul, She’s Dead’ is 22 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCB wayA · griefB · bayA · leafB · herC · herC · beliefB
- 2 ABABCCB eyesA · thrownB · skiesA · aloneB · herC · herC · strownB
- 3 ABABCCCB earthA · oursB · mirthA · showersB · herC · herC · herC · flowersB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She has done with the sea’s sorrow and the world’s way | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| And the wind’s grief; | 4 | ···· |
| Strew her with laurel, cover her with bay | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And ivy-leaf. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Let the slow mournful music sound before her, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Strew the white flowers about the bier, and o’er her | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| The sleepy poppies red beyond belief. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| On the black velvet covering her eyes | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Let the dull earth be thrown; | 6 | ······ |
| Hers is the mightier silence of the skies, | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| And long, quiet rest alone. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Over the pure, dark, wistful eyes of her, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O’er all the human, all that dies of her, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Gently let flowers be strown. | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| Lay her away in quiet old peaceful earth | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·/˘· |
| (This blossom of ours), | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| She has done with the world’s anger and the world’s mirth, | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Sunshine and rain-showers; | 6 | /···/˘ |
| And over the poor, sad, tired face of her, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| In the long grass above the place of her | 10 | ·········· |
| (The grass which hides the glory and the grace of her), | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| May the Spring bring the flowers. | 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.