The Song of the Guns at Sea
Oh hear! Oh hear!Across the sullen tideAcross the echoing dome horizon-wideWhat pulse of fearBeats with tremendous boom!What call of instant doom,With thunderstroke of terror and of pride,With urgency that may not be denied,Reverberates upon the heart's own drumCome! . . . Come! . . . for thou must come!
Come forth, O Soul!This is thy day of power.This is the day and this the glorious hourThat was the goalOf thy self-conquering strife.The love of child and wife,The fields of Earth and the wide ways of Thought--Did not thy purpose count them all as noughtThat in this moment thou thyself mayst giveAnd in thy country's life for ever live?
Therefore rejoiceThat in thy passionate primeYouth's nobler hope disdained the spoils of TimeAnd thine own choiceFore-earned for thee this day.Rejoice! rejoice to obeyIn the great hour of life that men call DeathThe beat that bids thee draw heroic breath,Deep-throbbing till thy mortal heart be dumbCome! . . . Come! . . . the time is come!
Words in this poem
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- tremendous a.
- Fitted to excite fear or terror; such as may astonish or terrify by its magnitude, force, or violence; terrible; dreadful; as, a tremendous wind; a tremendous shower; a tremendous shock or fall. [L. tremendus that is to be trembled at, fearful, fr. tremere to tremble. See Tremble.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of the Guns at Sea 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, The Song of the Guns at Sea, in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/the-song-of-the-guns-at-sea.html, id L11381.
Form and metre
The Song of the Guns at Sea is 30 lines in 3 stanzas of 10 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBACCDDEE, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABBACCBBDD hearA · tideB · wideB · fearA · boomC · doomC · prideB · deniedB · drumD · comeD
- 2 ABBACCDDEE soulA · powerB · hourB · goalA · strifeC · wifeC · thoughtD · noughtD · giveE · liveE
- 3 ABBACCDDEE rejoiceA · primeB · timeB · choiceA · dayC · obeyC · deathD · breathD · dumbE · comeE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh hear! Oh hear! | 4 | ···· |
| Across the sullen tide | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Across the echoing dome horizon-wide | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| What pulse of fear | 4 | ···· |
| Beats with tremendous boom! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| What call of instant doom, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With thunderstroke of terror and of pride, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With urgency that may not be denied, | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Reverberates upon the heart's own drum | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Come! . . . Come! . . . for thou must come! | 6 | ······ |
| Come forth, O Soul! | 4 | ···· |
| This is thy day of power. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| This is the day and this the glorious hour | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| That was the goal | 4 | ···· |
| Of thy self-conquering strife. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| The love of child and wife, | 6 | ······ |
| The fields of Earth and the wide ways of Thought-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Did not thy purpose count them all as nought | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That in this moment thou thyself mayst give | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| And in thy country's life for ever live? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Therefore rejoice | 4 | ··˘/ |
| That in thy passionate prime | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Youth's nobler hope disdained the spoils of Time | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| And thine own choice | 4 | ···· |
| Fore-earned for thee this day. | 6 | ······ |
| Rejoice! rejoice to obey | 7 | ˘/˘/·˘/ |
| In the great hour of life that men call Death | 10 | ···/······ |
| The beat that bids thee draw heroic breath, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Deep-throbbing till thy mortal heart be dumb | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Come! . . . Come! . . . the time is come! | 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.