In the Round Tower at Jhansi
A hundred, a thousand to one; even so;Not a hope in the world remained:The swarming howling wretches belowGained and gained and gained.
Skene looked at his pale young wife:--'Is the time come?'--'The time is come!'--Young, strong, and so full of life:The agony struck them dumb.
Close his arm about her now,Close her cheek to his,Close the pistol to her brow--God forgive them this!
'Will it hurt much?'--'No, mine own:I wish I could bear the pang for both.''I wish I could bear the pang alone:Courage, dear, I am not loth.'
Kiss and kiss: 'It is not painThus to kiss and die.One kiss more.'--'And yet one again.'--'Good-bye.'--'Good-bye.'
About this text
In the Round Tower at Jhansi is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, In the Round Tower at Jhansi, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/in-the-round-tower-at-jhansi.html, id L04238.
Form and metre
In the Round Tower at Jhansi is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 soA · remainedB · belowA · gainedB
- 2 ABAB wifeA · comeB · lifeA · dumbB
- 3 A-A- nowA · his · browA · this
- 4 A-A- ownA · both · aloneA · loth
- 5 ABAB painA · dieB · againA · byeB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A hundred, a thousand to one; even so; | 10 | ·/˘·/˘··/· |
| Not a hope in the world remained: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The swarming howling wretches below | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Gained and gained and gained. | 5 | ····· |
| Skene looked at his pale young wife:-- | 8 | ··˘····· |
| 'Is the time come?'--'The time is come!'-- | 8 | ········ |
| Young, strong, and so full of life: | 7 | ······· |
| The agony struck them dumb. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Close his arm about her now, | 7 | ······· |
| Close her cheek to his, | 5 | ····· |
| Close the pistol to her brow-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| God forgive them this! | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| 'Will it hurt much?'--'No, mine own: | 7 | ······· |
| I wish I could bear the pang for both.' | 9 | ········· |
| 'I wish I could bear the pang alone: | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Courage, dear, I am not loth.' | 7 | /˘····· |
| Kiss and kiss: 'It is not pain | 7 | ······· |
| Thus to kiss and die. | 5 | ····· |
| One kiss more.'--'And yet one again.'-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| 'Good-bye.'--'Good-bye.' | 4 | ···· |
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.