To Shakespeare, in 1916
With what white wrath must turn thy bones,What stern amazement flame thy dust,To feel so near this England's heartThe outrage of the assassin's thrust!
How must thou burn to have enduredThe acclaim of these whose fame uncleanReeks from the "Lusitania's" slain,Stinks from the orgies of Malines!
But surely, too, thou art consoled(Who knew'st thy stalwart breed so well)To see us rise from sloth, and go,Plain and unbragging, through this hell.
And surely, too, thou art assured.Hark how that grim and gathering beatDraws upwards from the ends of earth,--The tramp, tramp, of thy kinsmen's feet.
Words in this poem
- amazement n.
- The condition of being amazed; bewilderment ; overwhelming wonder, as from surprise, sudden fear, horror, or admiration.
- acclaim v. i.
- To shout applause.
- stalwart a.
- Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Shakespeare, in 1916 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, To Shakespeare, in 1916, in New Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59897, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/roberts-new-poems/to-shakespeare-in-1916.html, id L11118.
Form and metre
To Shakespeare, in 1916 is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 -A-A bones · dustA · heart · thrustA
- 3 -A-A consoled · wellA · go · hellA
- 4 -A-A assured · beatA · earth · feetA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With what white wrath must turn thy bones, | 8 | ········ |
| What stern amazement flame thy dust, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To feel so near this England's heart | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The outrage of the assassin's thrust! | 9 | ·/···˘/˘· |
| How must thou burn to have endured | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The acclaim of these whose fame unclean | 9 | ·˘/····˘/ |
| Reeks from the "Lusitania's" slain, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Stinks from the orgies of Malines! | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| But surely, too, thou art consoled | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| (Who knew'st thy stalwart breed so well) | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To see us rise from sloth, and go, | 8 | ········ |
| Plain and unbragging, through this hell. | 8 | ········ |
| And surely, too, thou art assured. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Hark how that grim and gathering beat | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Draws upwards from the ends of earth,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The tramp, tramp, of thy kinsmen's feet. | 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.