How to Die
Dark clouds are smouldering into redWhile down the craters morning burns.The dying soldier shifts his headTo watch the glory that returns:He lifts his fingers toward the skiesWhere holy brightness breaks in flame;Radiance reflected in his eyes,And on his lips a whispered name.
You'd think, to hear some people talk,That lads go West with sobs and curses,And sullen faces white as chalk,Hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses.But they've been taught the way to do itLike Christian soldiers; not with hasteAnd shuddering groans; but passing through itWith due regard for decent taste.
Words in this poem
- smouldering a.
- Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How to Die is in the public domain. This text is taken from Counter-Attack and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8930; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Siegfried Sassoon, How to Die, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/how-to-die.html, id L04694.
Form and metre
How to Die is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABABCDCD redA · burnsB · headA · returnsB · skiesC · flameD · eyesC · nameD
- 2 A-A-BCBC talkA · curses · chalkA · hearses · itB · hasteC · itB · tasteC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dark clouds are smouldering into red | 9 | ········· |
| While down the craters morning burns. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The dying soldier shifts his head | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To watch the glory that returns: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| He lifts his fingers toward the skies | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Where holy brightness breaks in flame; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Radiance reflected in his eyes, | 9 | /˘˘˘/˘··· |
| And on his lips a whispered name. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| You'd think, to hear some people talk, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That lads go West with sobs and curses, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And sullen faces white as chalk, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses. | 10 | /˘˘·····/˘ |
| But they've been taught the way to do it | 9 | ········· |
| Like Christian soldiers; not with haste | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And shuddering groans; but passing through it | 10 | ·/˘˘··/˘·· |
| With due regard for decent taste. | 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.