Laurel · Henry John Newbolt · Poems: New and Old

Minora Sidera (The Dictionary of National Biography)

Henry John Newbolt (1862–1938) · 1912

iambic pentameter · ABAB · 24 lines · from Poems: New and Old

Sitting at times over a hearth that burnsWith dull domestic glow,My thought, leaving the book, gratefully turnsTo you who planned it so.

Not of the great only you deigned to tell--The stars by which we steer--But lights out of the night that flashed, and fellTo-night again, are here.

Such as were those, dogs of an elder day,Who sacked the golden ports,And those later who dared grapple their preyBeneath the harbour forts:

Some with flag at the fore, sweeping the worldTo find an equal fight,And some who joined war to their trade, and hurledShips of the line in flight.

Whether their fame centuries long should ringThey cared not over-much,But cared greatly to serve God and the king,And keep the Nelson touch;

And fought to build Britain above the tideOf wars and windy fate;And passed content, leaving to us the prideOf lives obscurely great.

Words in this poem

harbour n.: A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Minora Sidera (The Dictionary of National Biography) 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, Minora Sidera (The Dictionary of National Biography), in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/minora-sidera-the-dictionary-of-national-biography.html, id L11398.

Form and metre

Minora Sidera (The Dictionary of National Biography) is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 38% 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 burns^A · glow^B · turns^A · so^B
2 ABAB tell^A · steer^B · fell^A · here^B
3 ABAB day^A · ports^B · prey^A · forts^B
4 ABAB world^A · fight^B · hurled^A · flight^B
5 ABAB ring^A · much^B · king^A · touch^B
6 ABAB tide^A · fate^B · pride^A · great^B

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
Sitting at times over a hearth that burns	10	/˘········
With dull domestic glow,	6	··˘/˘·
My thought, leaving the book, gratefully turns	10	··/˘··/˘˘·
To you who planned it so.	6	······
Not of the great only you deigned to tell--	10	····/˘····
The stars by which we steer--	6	······
But lights out of the night that flashed, and fell	10	··········
To-night again, are here.	6	··˘/··
Such as were those, dogs of an elder day,	10	·······/˘·
Who sacked the golden ports,	6	···/˘·
And those later who dared grapple their prey	10	··/˘··/˘··
Beneath the harbour forts:	6	···/˘·
Some with flag at the fore, sweeping the world	10	······/˘··
To find an equal fight,	6	···/˘·
And some who joined war to their trade, and hurled	10	··········
Ships of the line in flight.	6	······
Whether their fame centuries long should ring	10	····/˘˘···
They cared not over-much,	6	······
But cared greatly to serve God and the king,	10	··/˘······
And keep the Nelson touch;	6	···/˘·
And fought to build Britain above the tide	10	····/˘····
Of wars and windy fate;	6	···/˘·
And passed content, leaving to us the pride	10	··/˘/˘····
Of lives obscurely great.	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.

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