The Captain
Here all the day she swings from tide to tide,Here all night long she tugs a rusted chain,A masterless hulk that was a ship of pride,Yet unashamed: her memories remain.
It was Nelson in the 'Captain', Cape St. Vincent far alee,With the 'Vanguard' leading s'uth'ard in the haze --Little Jervis and the Spaniards and the fight that was to be,Twenty-seven Spanish battleships, great bullies of the sea,And the 'Captain' there to find her day of days.
Right into them the 'Vanguard' leads, but with a sudden tackThe Spaniards double swiftly on their trail;Now Jervis overshoots his mark, like some too eager pack,He will not overtake them, haste he e'er so greatly back,But Nelson and the 'Captain' will not fail.
Like a tigress on her quarry leaps the 'Captain' from her place,To lie across the fleeing squadron's way:Heavy odds and heavy onslaught, gun to gun and face to face,Win the ship a name of glory, win the men a death of grace,For a little hold the Spanish fleet in play.
Ended now the "Captain"'s battle, stricken sore she falls asideHolding still her foemen, beaten to the knee:As the 'Vanguard' drifted past her, "Well done, 'Captain'," Jervis cried,Rang the cheers of men that conquered, ran the blood of men that died,And the ship had won her immortality.
Lo! here her progeny of steel and steam,A funnelled monster at her mooring swings:Still, in our hearts, we see her pennant stream,And "Well done, 'Captain'," like a trumpet rings.
Words in this poem
- masterless a.
- Destitute of a master or owner; ungoverned or ungovernable.
- hulk n.
- The body of a ship or decked vessel of any kind; esp., the body of an old vessel laid by as unfit for service. [OE. hulke a heavy ship, AS. hulc a light, swift ship; akin to D. hulk a ship of burden, G. holk, OHG. holcho; perh. fr. LL. holcas, Gr. Wolf, Holcad.]
- tigress n.
- The female of the tiger. Holland. [From Tiger: cf. F. tigresse.]
- odds n.
- Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality; advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances; probability. [See Odd, a.]
- onslaught n.
- An attack; an onset; esp., a furious or murderous attack or assault. [OE. on on + slaught, slaht, slaughter. See Slaughter.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- mooring n.
- The act of confining a ship to a particular place, by means of anchors or fastenings.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Captain 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, The Captain, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/the-captain.html, id L17036.
Form and metre
The Captain is 28 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 tideA · chainB · prideA · remainB
- 2 ABAAB aleeA · hazeB · beA · seaA · daysB
- 3 ABAAB tackA · trailB · packA · backA · failB
- 4 ABAAB placeA · wayB · faceA · graceA · playB
- 5 A-AA- asideA · knee · criedA · diedA · immortality
- 6 ABAB steamA · swingsB · streamA · ringsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here all the day she swings from tide to tide, | 10 | ·········· |
| Here all night long she tugs a rusted chain, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A masterless hulk that was a ship of pride, | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| Yet unashamed: her memories remain. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| It was Nelson in the 'Captain', Cape St. Vincent far alee, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| With the 'Vanguard' leading s'uth'ard in the haze -- | 11 | ··/·/˘/˘··· |
| Little Jervis and the Spaniards and the fight that was to be, | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘······· |
| Twenty-seven Spanish battleships, great bullies of the sea, | 14 | /˘//˘/˘··/˘··· |
| And the 'Captain' there to find her day of days. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Right into them the 'Vanguard' leads, but with a sudden tack | 14 | ·····/·····/˘· |
| The Spaniards double swiftly on their trail; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Now Jervis overshoots his mark, like some too eager pack, | 14 | ·/˘/˘······/˘· |
| He will not overtake them, haste he e'er so greatly back, | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| But Nelson and the 'Captain' will not fail. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Like a tigress on her quarry leaps the 'Captain' from her place, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| To lie across the fleeing squadron's way: | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Heavy odds and heavy onslaught, gun to gun and face to face, | 15 | /˘··/˘/········ |
| Win the ship a name of glory, win the men a death of grace, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| For a little hold the Spanish fleet in play. | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| Ended now the "Captain"'s battle, stricken sore she falls aside | 16 | /˘··/˘·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Holding still her foemen, beaten to the knee: | 11 | /˘····/˘··· |
| As the 'Vanguard' drifted past her, "Well done, 'Captain'," Jervis cried, | 15 | ··/·/˘····/˘/˘· |
| Rang the cheers of men that conquered, ran the blood of men that died, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| And the ship had won her immortality. | 11 | ·······˘/˘˘ |
| Lo! here her progeny of steel and steam, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| A funnelled monster at her mooring swings: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Still, in our hearts, we see her pennant stream, | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| And "Well done, 'Captain'," like a trumpet rings. | 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.