Cambrai and Marne
Before our trenches at CambraiWe saw their columns cringe away.We saw their masses melt and reelBefore our line of leaping steel.
A handful to their storming hordesWe scourged them with the scourge of swords,And still, the more we slew, the moreCame up for every slain a score.
Between the hedges and the townTheir cursing squadrons we rode down.To stay them we outpoured our bloodBetween the beetfields and the wood.
In that red hell of shrieking shellUnfaltering our gunners fell.They fell, or ere that day was done,Beside the last unshattered gun.
But still we held them, like a wallOn which the breakers vainly fall--Till came the word, and we obeyed,Reluctant, bleeding, undismayed.
Our feet, astonished, learned retreat,Our souls rejected still defeat.Unbroken still, a lion at bay,We drew back grimly from Cambrai.
In blood and sweat, with slaughter spent,They thought us beaten as we went;Till suddenly we turned and smoteThe shout of triumph in their throat.
At last, at last we turned and stood--And Marne's fair water ran with blood.We stood by trench and steel and gun,For now the indignant flight was done.
We ploughed their shaken ranks with fire.We trod their masses into mire.Our sabres drove through their retreat,As drives the whirlwind through young wheat.
At last, at last we flung them backAlong their drenched and smoking track.We hurled them back, in blood and flame,The reeking ways by which they came.
By cumbered road and desperate ford,How fled their shamed and harassed horde!Shout, Sons of Freemen, for the dayWhen Marne so well avenged Cambrai!
Words in this poem
- handful n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
- storming a.
- from Storm, v. Storming party (Mil.), a party assigned to the duty of making the first assault in storming a fortress.
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- grimly a.
- Grim; hideous; stern.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- horde n.
- A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson. [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cambrai and Marne is in the public domain. This text is taken from New Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59897; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles G. D. Roberts, Cambrai and Marne, in New Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59897, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/roberts-new-poems/cambrai-and-marne.html, id L11141.
Form and metre
Cambrai and Marne is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 8 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% 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 --AA cambrai · away · reelA · steelA
- 2 AABB hordesA · swordsA · moreB · scoreB
- 3 AABB townA · downA · bloodB · woodB
- 4 AABB shellA · fellA · doneB · gunB
- 5 AABB wallA · fallA · obeyedB · undismayedB
- 6 AA-- retreatA · defeatA · bay · cambrai
- 7 AABB spentA · wentA · smoteB · throatB
- 8 AABB stoodA · bloodA · gunB · doneB
- 9 AABB fireA · mireA · retreatB · wheatB
- 10 AABB backA · trackA · flameB · cameB
- 11 AA-- fordA · hordeA · day · cambrai
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Before our trenches at Cambrai | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| We saw their columns cringe away. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| We saw their masses melt and reel | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Before our line of leaping steel. | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| A handful to their storming hordes | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| We scourged them with the scourge of swords, | 8 | ········ |
| And still, the more we slew, the more | 8 | ········ |
| Came up for every slain a score. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Between the hedges and the town | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their cursing squadrons we rode down. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To stay them we outpoured our blood | 8 | ·····//· |
| Between the beetfields and the wood. | 8 | ········ |
| In that red hell of shrieking shell | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unfaltering our gunners fell. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| They fell, or ere that day was done, | 8 | ········ |
| Beside the last unshattered gun. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| But still we held them, like a wall | 8 | ········ |
| On which the breakers vainly fall-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Till came the word, and we obeyed, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Reluctant, bleeding, undismayed. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··˘ |
| Our feet, astonished, learned retreat, | 8 | /·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Our souls rejected still defeat. | 8 | /·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Unbroken still, a lion at bay, | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| We drew back grimly from Cambrai. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In blood and sweat, with slaughter spent, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They thought us beaten as we went; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Till suddenly we turned and smote | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The shout of triumph in their throat. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At last, at last we turned and stood-- | 8 | ········ |
| And Marne's fair water ran with blood. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We stood by trench and steel and gun, | 8 | ········ |
| For now the indignant flight was done. | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| We ploughed their shaken ranks with fire. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| We trod their masses into mire. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our sabres drove through their retreat, | 8 | //˘···˘/ |
| As drives the whirlwind through young wheat. | 8 | ···/···· |
| At last, at last we flung them back | 8 | ········ |
| Along their drenched and smoking track. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| We hurled them back, in blood and flame, | 8 | ········ |
| The reeking ways by which they came. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By cumbered road and desperate ford, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| How fled their shamed and harassed horde! | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Shout, Sons of Freemen, for the day | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Marne so well avenged Cambrai! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
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