The Song of Iron IV
Here ye, Dictators--late Lords of the Iron,Shut in your council rooms, palsied, depowered--The blooded, implacable Word?Not whispered in cloture, one to the other,(Brother in fear of the fear of his brother...)But chanted and thunderedOn the brazen, articulate tongues of the IronBabbling in flame...
Sung to the rhythm of prisons dismantled,Manacles riven and ramparts defaced...(Hearts death-anointed yet hearing life calling...)Ankle chains bursting and gallows unbraced...
Sung to the rhythm of arsenals burning...Clangor of iron smashing on iron,Turmoil of metal and dissonant bayingOf mail-sided monsters shattered asunder...
Hulks of black turbines all mangled and roaring,Battering egress through ramparted walls...Mouthing of engines, made rabid with power,Into the holocaust snorting and plunging...
Mighty converters torn from their axis,Flung to the furnaces, vomiting fire,Jumbled in white-heaten masses disshapen...Writhing in flame-tortured levers of iron...
Gnashing of steel serpents twisting and dying...Screeching of steam-glutted cauldrons rending...Shock of leviathans prone on each other...Scaled flanks touching, ore entering ore...Steel haunches closing and grappling and swayingIn the waltz of the mating locked mammoths of iron,Tasting the turbulent fury of living,Mad with a moment's exuberant living!Crash of devastating hammers despoiling..Hands inexorable, marringWhat hands had so cunningly moulded...
Structures of steel welded, subtily tempered,Marvelous wrought of the wizards of ore,Torn into octaves discordantly clashing,Chords never final but onward progressingIn monstrous fusion of sound ever smiting on soundin mad vortices whirling...
Till the ear, tortured, shrieks for cessationOf the raving inharmonies hatefully mingling...The fierce obligato the steel pipes are screaming...The blare of the rude molten music of Iron...
Words in this poem
- palsied a.
- Affected with palsy; paralyzed.
- clangor n.
- A sharp, harsh, ringing sound. [L., fr. clangere. See Clang, v. t.]
- turmoil v. t.
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- dissonant a.
- Sounding harshly; discordant; unharmonious. [L. dissonans, -antis, p. pr. of dissonare to disagree in sound, be discordant; dis- + sonare to sound: cf. F. dissonant. See Sonant.]
- rabid a.
- Furious; raging; extremely violent.
- holocaust n.
- A burnt sacrifice; an offering, the whole of which was consumed by fire, among the Jews and some pagan nations. [L. holocaustum, Gr. "o'los whole + kaysto`s burnt, fr. kai`ein to burn (cf. Caustic): cf. F. holocauste.]
- scaled a.
- Covered with scales, or scalelike structures; -- said of a fish, a reptile, a moth, etc.
- waltz n.
- A dance performed by two persons in circular figures with a whirling motion; also, a piece of music composed in triple measure for this kind of dance. [G. walzer, from walzen to roll, revolve, dance, OHG. walzan to roll; akin to AS. wealtan. See Welter.]
- screaming a.
- Uttering screams; shrieking.
- blare v. i.
- To sound loudly and somewhat harshly. [OE. blaren, bloren, to cry, woop; cf. G. plärren to bleat, D. blaren to bleat, cry, weep. Prob. an imitative word, but cf. also E. blast. Cf. Blore.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of Iron IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Ghetto, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #4332; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lola Ridge, The Song of Iron IV, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/the-song-of-iron-iv.html, id L20884.
Form and metre
The Song of Iron IV is 45 lines in 8 stanzas. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in dactylic 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-BCCBA- ironA · depowered · wordB · otherC · brotherC · thunderedB · ironA · flame
- 2 -A-A dismantled · defacedA · calling · unbracedA
- 6 ----A-BBAA- dying · rending · other · ore · swayingA · iron · livingB · livingB · despoilingA · marringA · moulded
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here ye, Dictators--late Lords of the Iron, | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Shut in your council rooms, palsied, depowered-- | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| The blooded, implacable Word? | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| Not whispered in cloture, one to the other, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘ |
| (Brother in fear of the fear of his brother...) | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| But chanted and thundered | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| On the brazen, articulate tongues of the Iron | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····/ |
| Babbling in flame... | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Sung to the rhythm of prisons dismantled, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Manacles riven and ramparts defaced... | 10 | ··/˘·/·˘/˘ |
| (Hearts death-anointed yet hearing life calling...) | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Ankle chains bursting and gallows unbraced... | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘··˘ |
| Sung to the rhythm of arsenals burning... | 11 | ···/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Clangor of iron smashing on iron, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Turmoil of metal and dissonant baying | 11 | /··/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Of mail-sided monsters shattered asunder... | 11 | ··/˘/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Hulks of black turbines all mangled and roaring, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Battering egress through ramparted walls... | 10 | /˘˘˘/····· |
| Mouthing of engines, made rabid with power, | 11 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Into the holocaust snorting and plunging... | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Mighty converters torn from their axis, | 10 | /˘˘/˘···/˘ |
| Flung to the furnaces, vomiting fire, | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Jumbled in white-heaten masses disshapen... | 11 | /˘····/˘··· |
| Writhing in flame-tortured levers of iron... | 11 | /˘··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Gnashing of steel serpents twisting and dying... | 11 | /˘··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Screeching of steam-glutted cauldrons rending... | 10 | /˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Shock of leviathans prone on each other... | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| Scaled flanks touching, ore entering ore... | 10 | ·˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Steel haunches closing and grappling and swaying | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| In the waltz of the mating locked mammoths of iron, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·/ |
| Tasting the turbulent fury of living, | 11 | /˘·/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Mad with a moment's exuberant living! | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Crash of devastating hammers despoiling.. | 11 | ··/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Hands inexorable, marring | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| What hands had so cunningly moulded... | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Structures of steel welded, subtily tempered, | 11 | /˘··/˘···/˘ |
| Marvelous wrought of the wizards of ore, | 10 | /˘˘···/˘·· |
| Torn into octaves discordantly clashing, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Chords never final but onward progressing | 11 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| In monstrous fusion of sound ever smiting on sound | 12 | ·/˘/˘··//˘·· |
| in mad vortices whirling... | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Till the ear, tortured, shrieks for cessation | 11 | ···/˘˘···/˘ |
| Of the raving inharmonies hatefully mingling... | 13 | ··/˘·······/˘ |
| The fierce obligato the steel pipes are screaming... | 12 | ··/˘˘˘····/˘ |
| The blare of the rude molten music of Iron... | 12 | ·····/˘/˘·/˘ |
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.