After a Revel
That was indeed a glorious night,When all inspired with Magyar wine,We saw the hallowed past return—That was, indeed, a night divine!
There was a second Mohac's fight—The sabre-wielding Turks were there;We saw them in the wine-cup's light—And we the brave Hungarians were!
'Tis true as truth—as valiant menWe fought—not one, nor two, but all;And dropping from his saddle then,We saw the wounded monarch fall.
And every heavy blow that fellFrom every lifted Magyar hand,Appeared prophetic to foretellSalvation for the Magyar land.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- magyar n.
- One of the dominant people of Hungary, allied to the Finns; a Hungarian. [Hung.]
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
After a Revel is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, After a Revel, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/after-a-revel.html, id L29798.
Form and metre
After a Revel is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 -A-A night · wineA · return · divineA
- 2 A-A- fightA · there · lightA · were
- 3 ABAB menA · allB · thenA · fallB
- 4 ABAB fellA · handB · foretellA · landB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That was indeed a glorious night, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| When all inspired with Magyar wine, | 8 | ··˘/·/·· |
| We saw the hallowed past return— | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That was, indeed, a night divine! | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| There was a second Mohac's fight— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The sabre-wielding Turks were there; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| We saw them in the wine-cup's light— | 8 | ········ |
| And we the brave Hungarians were! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| 'Tis true as truth—as valiant men | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We fought—not one, nor two, but all; | 8 | ········ |
| And dropping from his saddle then, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| We saw the wounded monarch fall. | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| And every heavy blow that fell | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| From every lifted Magyar hand, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| Appeared prophetic to foretell | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Salvation for the Magyar land. | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
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.