Penance
My lover died a century ago,Her dear heart stricken by my sland'rous breath,Wherefore the Gods forbade that I should knowThe peace of death.
Men pass my grave, and say, "'Twere well to sleep,Like such an one, amid the uncaring dead!"How should they know the vigils that I keep,The tears I shed?
Upon the grave, I count with lifeless breath,Each night, each year, the flowers that bloom and die,Deeming the leaves, that fall to dreamless death,More blest than I.
'Twas just last year -- I heard two lovers passSo near, I caught the tender words he said:To-night the rain-drenched breezes sway the grassAbove his head.
That night full envious of his life was I,That youth and love should stand at his behest;To-night, I envy him, that he should lieAt utter rest.
Words in this poem
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- 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]
- dreamless a.
- Free from, or without, dreams. Camden.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Penance 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, Penance, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/penance.html, id L17042.
Form and metre
Penance is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 20% 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 agoA · breathB · knowA · deathB
- 2 ABAB sleepA · deadB · keepA · shedB
- 3 ABAB breathA · dieB · deathA · iB
- 4 ABAB passA · saidB · grassA · headB
- 5 ABAB iA · behestB · lieA · restB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My lover died a century ago, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| Her dear heart stricken by my sland'rous breath, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Wherefore the Gods forbade that I should know | 10 | /˘··˘/···· |
| The peace of death. | 4 | ···· |
| Men pass my grave, and say, "'Twere well to sleep, | 10 | ·········· |
| Like such an one, amid the uncaring dead!" | 11 | ····˘/·˘/˘· |
| How should they know the vigils that I keep, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The tears I shed? | 4 | ···· |
| Upon the grave, I count with lifeless breath, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Each night, each year, the flowers that bloom and die, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Deeming the leaves, that fall to dreamless death, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| More blest than I. | 4 | ···· |
| 'Twas just last year -- I heard two lovers pass | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So near, I caught the tender words he said: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To-night the rain-drenched breezes sway the grass | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Above his head. | 4 | ···· |
| That night full envious of his life was I, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That youth and love should stand at his behest; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To-night, I envy him, that he should lie | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| At utter rest. | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.