Quebec
Of old, like Helen, guerdon of the strong --Like Helen fair, like Helen light of word, --"The spoils unto the conquerors belong.Who winneth me must win me by the sword."
Grown old, like Helen, once the jealous prizeThat strong men battled for in savage hate,Can she look forth with unregretful eyes,Where sleep Montcalm and Wolfe beside her gate?
Words in this poem
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Quebec 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, Quebec, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/quebec.html, id L17038.
Form and metre
Quebec is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. 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 10.0 syllables. 12% 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 A-A- strongA · word · belongA · sword
- 2 ABAB prizeA · hateB · eyesA · gateB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Of old, like Helen, guerdon of the strong -- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Like Helen fair, like Helen light of word, -- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| "The spoils unto the conquerors belong. | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| Who winneth me must win me by the sword." | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Grown old, like Helen, once the jealous prize | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That strong men battled for in savage hate, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Can she look forth with unregretful eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| Where sleep Montcalm and Wolfe beside her gate? | 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.