Victoria Regina (June 21St, 1897)
A thousand years by sea and landOur race hath served the island kings,But not by custom's dull commandTo-day with song her Empire rings:
Not all the glories of her birth,Her armed renown and ancient throne,Could make her less the child of earthOr give her hopes beyond our own:
But stayed on faith more sternly provedAnd pride than ours more pure and deep,She loves the land our fathers lovedAnd keeps the fame our sons shall keep.
Words in this poem
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- sternly adv.
- In a stern manner.
- 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
Victoria Regina (June 21St, 1897) 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, Victoria Regina (June 21St, 1897), in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/victoria-regina-june-21st-1897.html, id L11429.
Form and metre
Victoria Regina (June 21St, 1897) is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 ABAB landA · kingsB · commandA · ringsB
- 2 ABAB birthA · throneB · earthA · ownB
- 3 -A-A proved · deepA · loved · keepA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A thousand years by sea and land | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Our race hath served the island kings, | 10 | /˘···˘·/˘· |
| But not by custom's dull command | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To-day with song her Empire rings: | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Not all the glories of her birth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her armed renown and ancient throne, | 9 | ··˘˘/·/˘· |
| Could make her less the child of earth | 8 | ········ |
| Or give her hopes beyond our own: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| But stayed on faith more sternly proved | 10 | ··˘···/˘·˘ |
| And pride than ours more pure and deep, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| She loves the land our fathers loved | 10 | ····/˘/˘·˘ |
| And keeps the fame our sons shall keep. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
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.