The Warrior to His Dead Bride
If in the fight my arm was strong,And forced my foes to yield,If conquering and unhurt I cameBack from the battle-field--It is because thy prayers have beenMy safeguard and my shield.
My comrades smile to see my armSpare or protect a foe,They think thy gentle pleading voiceWas silenced long ago;But pity and compassion, love,Were taught me first by woe.
Thy heart, my own, still beats in HeavenWith the same love divineThat made thee stoop to such a soul,So hard, so stern, as mine--My eyes have learnt to weep, beloved,Since last they looked on thine.
I hear thee murmur words of peaceThrough the dim midnight air,And a calm falls from the angel starsAnd soothes my great despair--The Heavens themselves look brighter, love,Since thy sweet soul is there.
And if my heart is once more calm,My step is once more free,It is because each hour I feelThou prayest still for me;Because no fate or change can comeBetween my soul and thee.
It is because my heart is stilled.Not broken by despair,Because I see the grave is bright,And death itself is fair--I dread no more the wrath of Heaven--I have an angel there!
Words in this poem
- safeguard n.
- One who, or that which, defends or protects; defense; protection. [Safe = guard: cf. F. sauvegarde.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Warrior to His Dead Bride is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, The Warrior to His Dead Bride, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/the-warrior-to-his-dead-bride.html, id L21793.
Form and metre
The Warrior to His Dead Bride is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-A strong · yieldA · came · fieldA · been · shieldA
- 2 -A-A-A arm · foeA · voice · agoA · love · woeA
- 3 AA-A-A heavenA · divineA · soul · mineA · beloved · thineA
- 4 -A-A-A peace · airA · stars · despairA · love · thereA
- 5 -A-A-A calm · freeA · feel · meA · come · theeA
- 6 -A-A-A stilled · despairA · bright · fairA · heaven · thereA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If in the fight my arm was strong, | 8 | ········ |
| And forced my foes to yield, | 6 | ······ |
| If conquering and unhurt I came | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Back from the battle-field-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It is because thy prayers have been | 8 | ········ |
| My safeguard and my shield. | 6 | ·/···· |
| My comrades smile to see my arm | 8 | ·/······ |
| Spare or protect a foe, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| They think thy gentle pleading voice | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Was silenced long ago; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| But pity and compassion, love, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Were taught me first by woe. | 6 | ······ |
| Thy heart, my own, still beats in Heaven | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| With the same love divine | 6 | ····˘/ |
| That made thee stoop to such a soul, | 8 | ········ |
| So hard, so stern, as mine-- | 6 | ······ |
| My eyes have learnt to weep, beloved, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Since last they looked on thine. | 6 | ······ |
| I hear thee murmur words of peace | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through the dim midnight air, | 6 | ···/·· |
| And a calm falls from the angel stars | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And soothes my great despair-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The Heavens themselves look brighter, love, | 8 | ·/˘˘/·/· |
| Since thy sweet soul is there. | 6 | ······ |
| And if my heart is once more calm, | 8 | ········ |
| My step is once more free, | 6 | ······ |
| It is because each hour I feel | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Thou prayest still for me; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Because no fate or change can come | 8 | ········ |
| Between my soul and thee. | 6 | ······ |
| It is because my heart is stilled. | 8 | ········ |
| Not broken by despair, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Because I see the grave is bright, | 8 | ········ |
| And death itself is fair-- | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| I dread no more the wrath of Heaven-- | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I have an angel there! | 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.