Messmates
He gave us all a good-bye cheerilyAt the first dawn of day;We dropped him down the side full drearilyWhen the light died away.It's a dead dark watch that he's a-keeping there,And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there,Where the Trades and the tides roll over himAnd the great ships go by.
He's there alone with green seas rocking himFor a thousand miles round;He's there alone with dumb things mocking him,And we're homeward bound.It's a long, lone watch that he's a-keeping there,And a dead cold night that lags a-creeping there,While the months and the years roll over himAnd the great ships go by.
I wonder if the tramps come near enoughAs they thrash to and fro,And the battle-ships' bells ring clear enoughTo be heard down below;
If through all the lone watch that he's a-keeping there,And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there,The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort himWhen the great ships go by.
Words in this poem
- cheerily adv.
- In a cheery manner.
- drearily adv.
- Gloomily; dismally.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Messmates is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems: New and Old, Project Gutenberg ebook #24405; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry John Newbolt, Messmates, in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/messmates.html, id L11395.
Form and metre
Messmates is 24 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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-ABB-- cheerily · dayA · drearily · awayA · thereB · thereB · him · by
- 2 ABABCCA- himA · roundB · himA · boundB · thereC · thereC · himA · by
- 3 ABAB enoughA · froB · enoughA · belowB
- 4 AA-- thereA · thereA · him · by
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He gave us all a good-bye cheerily | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| At the first dawn of day; | 6 | ······ |
| We dropped him down the side full drearily | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| When the light died away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| It's a dead dark watch that he's a-keeping there, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Where the Trades and the tides roll over him | 10 | ·········· |
| And the great ships go by. | 6 | ······ |
| He's there alone with green seas rocking him | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| For a thousand miles round; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| He's there alone with dumb things mocking him, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And we're homeward bound. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| It's a long, lone watch that he's a-keeping there, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And a dead cold night that lags a-creeping there, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| While the months and the years roll over him | 10 | ·········· |
| And the great ships go by. | 6 | ······ |
| I wonder if the tramps come near enough | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| As they thrash to and fro, | 6 | ······ |
| And the battle-ships' bells ring clear enough | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| To be heard down below; | 6 | ······ |
| If through all the lone watch that he's a-keeping there, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort him | 12 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| When the great ships go by. | 6 | ······ |
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.