Disarmament
One spake amid the nations, "Let us ceaseFrom darkening with strife the fair World's light,We who are great in war be great in peace.No longer let us plead the cause by might."
But from a million British graves took birthA silent voice -- the million spake as one --"If ye have righted all the wrongs of earthLay by the sword! Its work and ours is done."
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Disarmament is in the public domain. This text is taken from In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #353; 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 McCrae, Disarmament, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/disarmament.html, id L17050.
Form and metre
Disarmament is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB ceaseA · lightB · peaceA · mightB
- 2 ABAB birthA · oneB · earthA · doneB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| One spake amid the nations, "Let us cease | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| From darkening with strife the fair World's light, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| We who are great in war be great in peace. | 10 | ·········· |
| No longer let us plead the cause by might." | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But from a million British graves took birth | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| A silent voice -- the million spake as one -- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| "If ye have righted all the wrongs of earth | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Lay by the sword! Its work and ours is done." | 10 | ·······/·· |
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.