The Head of Bran the Blest I
WHEN the Head of BranWas firm on British shoulders,God made a man!Cried all beholders.
Steel could not resistThe weight his arm would rattle;He, with naked fist,Has brain’d a knight in battle.
He marched on the foe,And never counted numbers;Foreign widows knowThe hosts he sent to slumbers.
As a street you scan,That’s towered by the steeple,So the Head of BranRose o’er his people.
Words in this poem
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- towered a.
- Adorned or defended by towers.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Head of Bran the Blest I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #1381; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George Meredith, The Head of Bran the Blest I, in Poems, Volume I (1851–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1381, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meredith-poems/the-head-of-bran-the-blest-i.html, id L13181.
Form and metre
The Head of Bran the Blest I is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.7 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 branA · shouldersB · manA · beholdersB
- 2 ABAB resistA · rattleB · fistA · battleB
- 3 ABAB foeA · numbersB · knowA · slumbersB
- 4 ABAB scanA · steepleB · branA · peopleB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN the Head of Bran | 5 | ····· |
| Was firm on British shoulders, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| God made a man! | 4 | ···· |
| Cried all beholders. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Steel could not resist | 5 | ···˘/ |
| The weight his arm would rattle; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| He, with naked fist, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Has brain’d a knight in battle. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| He marched on the foe, | 5 | ····· |
| And never counted numbers; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Foreign widows know | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| The hosts he sent to slumbers. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| As a street you scan, | 5 | ····· |
| That’s towered by the steeple, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| So the Head of Bran | 5 | ····· |
| Rose o’er his people. | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.