Equality
I saw a King, who spent his life to weaveInto a nation all his great heart thought,Unsatisfied until he should achieveThe grand ideal that his manhood sought;Yet as he saw the end within his reach,Death took the sceptre from his failing hand,And all men said, "He gave his life to teachThe task of honour to a sordid land!"Within his gates I saw, through all those years,One at his humble toil with cheery face,Whom (being dead) the children, half in tears,Remembered oft, and missed him from his place.If he be greater that his people blessedThan he the children loved, God knoweth best.
Words in this poem
- sceptre n.
- A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- sordid a.
- Filthy; foul; dirty. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Equality 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, Equality, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/equality.html, id L17048.
Form and metre
Equality is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG weaveA · thoughtB · achieveA · soughtB · reachC · handD · teachC · landD · yearsE · faceF · tearsE · placeF · blessedG · bestG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I saw a King, who spent his life to weave | 10 | ·········· |
| Into a nation all his great heart thought, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Unsatisfied until he should achieve | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| The grand ideal that his manhood sought; | 9 | ··˘/··/·· |
| Yet as he saw the end within his reach, | 10 | ·········· |
| Death took the sceptre from his failing hand, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And all men said, "He gave his life to teach | 10 | ·········· |
| The task of honour to a sordid land!" | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Within his gates I saw, through all those years, | 10 | ·········· |
| One at his humble toil with cheery face, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whom (being dead) the children, half in tears, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Remembered oft, and missed him from his place. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| If he be greater that his people blessed | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Than he the children loved, God knoweth best. | 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.