The Death of Napoleon
Wild was the night, yet a wilder nightHung round the soldier’s pillow;In his bosom there waged a fiercer fightThan the fight on the wrathful billow.
A few fond mourners were kneeling by,The few that his stern heart cherished;They knew, by his glazed and unearthly eye,That life had nearly perished.
They knew by his awful and kingly look,By the order hastily spoken,That he dreamed of days when the nations shook,And the nations’ hosts were broken.
He dreamed that the Frenchman’s sword still slew,And triumphed the Frenchman’s eagle,And the struggling Austrian fled anew,Like the hare before the beagle.
The bearded Russian he scourged again,The Prussian’s camp was routed,And again on the hills of haughty SpainHis mighty armies shouted.
Over Egypt’s sands, over Alpine snows,At the pyramids, at the mountain,Where the wave of the lordly Danube flows,And by the Italian fountain,
On the snowy cliffs where mountain streamsDash by the Switzer’s dwelling,He led again, in his dying dreams,His hosts, the proud earth quelling.
Again Marengo’s field was won,And Jena’s bloody battle;Again the world was overrun,Made pale at his cannon’s rattle.
He died at the close of that darksome day,A day that shall live in story;In the rocky land they placed his clay,“And left him alone with his glory.”
Words in this poem
- wrathful a.
- Full of wrath; very angry; greatly incensed; ireful; passionate; as, a wrathful man.
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
- unearthly a.
- Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- frenchman n.
- A native or one of the people of France.
- beagle n.
- A small hound, or hunting dog, twelve to fifteen inches high, used in hunting hares and other small game. See Illustration in Appendix. [OE. begele; perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. beag small, little, W. bach. F. bigle is from English.]
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- overrun v. t.
- To run over; to grow or spread over in excess; to invade and occupy; to take possession of; as, the vine overran its trellis; the farm is overrun with witch grass.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- 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
The Death of Napoleon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, The Death of Napoleon, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-death-of-napoleon.html, id L25237.
Form and metre
The Death of Napoleon is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 nightA · pillowB · fightA · billowB
- 2 ABAB byA · cherishedB · eyeA · perishedB
- 3 ABAB lookA · spokenB · shookA · brokenB
- 4 ABAB slewA · eagleB · anewA · beagleB
- 5 ABAB againA · routedB · spainA · shoutedB
- 6 ABAB snowsA · mountainB · flowsA · fountainB
- 7 ABAB streamsA · dwellingB · dreamsA · quellingB
- 8 ABAB wonA · battleB · overrunA · rattleB
- 9 ABAB dayA · storyB · clayA · gloryB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wild was the night, yet a wilder night | 8 | ······/· |
| Hung round the soldier’s pillow; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In his bosom there waged a fiercer fight | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Than the fight on the wrathful billow. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| A few fond mourners were kneeling by, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| The few that his stern heart cherished; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| They knew, by his glazed and unearthly eye, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| That life had nearly perished. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| They knew by his awful and kingly look, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| By the order hastily spoken, | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| That he dreamed of days when the nations shook, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the nations’ hosts were broken. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| He dreamed that the Frenchman’s sword still slew, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And triumphed the Frenchman’s eagle, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And the struggling Austrian fled anew, | 9 | ··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Like the hare before the beagle. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The bearded Russian he scourged again, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··˘/ |
| The Prussian’s camp was routed, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And again on the hills of haughty Spain | 10 | ·˘/····/˘· |
| His mighty armies shouted. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Over Egypt’s sands, over Alpine snows, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| At the pyramids, at the mountain, | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Where the wave of the lordly Danube flows, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And by the Italian fountain, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| On the snowy cliffs where mountain streams | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Dash by the Switzer’s dwelling, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| He led again, in his dying dreams, | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| His hosts, the proud earth quelling. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Again Marengo’s field was won, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And Jena’s bloody battle; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Again the world was overrun, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Made pale at his cannon’s rattle. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| He died at the close of that darksome day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A day that shall live in story; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the rocky land they placed his clay, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| “And left him alone with his glory.” | 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.