Invocation
Come down from heaven to meet me when my breathChokes, and through drumming shafts of stifling deathI stumble toward escape, to find the doorOpening on morn where I may breathe once moreClear cock-crow airs across some valley dimWith whispering trees. While dawn along the rimOf night's horizon flows in lakes of fire,Come down from heaven's bright hill, my song's desire.
Belov'd and faithful, teach my soul to wakeIn glades deep-ranked with flowers that gleam and shakeAnd flock your paths with wonder. In your gazeShow me the vanquished vigil of my days.Mute in that golden silence hung with green,Come down from heaven and bring me in your eyesRemembrance of all beauty that has been,And stillness from the pools of Paradise.
Words in this poem
- drumming n.
- The act of beating upon, or as if upon, a drum; also, the noise which the male of the ruffed grouse makes in spring, by beating his wings upon his sides.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Invocation 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, Invocation, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/invocation.html, id L04716.
Form and metre
Invocation is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 62% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDD breathA · deathA · doorB · moreB · dimC · rimC · fireD · desireD
- 2 AABB---- wakeA · shakeA · gazeB · daysB · green · eyes · been · paradise
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come down from heaven to meet me when my breath | 10 | ···/······ |
| Chokes, and through drumming shafts of stifling death | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I stumble toward escape, to find the door | 11 | ·/˘··˘/···· |
| Opening on morn where I may breathe once more | 10 | /˘········ |
| Clear cock-crow airs across some valley dim | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| With whispering trees. While dawn along the rim | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Of night's horizon flows in lakes of fire, | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Come down from heaven's bright hill, my song's desire. | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
| Belov'd and faithful, teach my soul to wake | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| In glades deep-ranked with flowers that gleam and shake | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And flock your paths with wonder. In your gaze | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Show me the vanquished vigil of my days. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Mute in that golden silence hung with green, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Come down from heaven and bring me in your eyes | 10 | ···/······ |
| Remembrance of all beauty that has been, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| And stillness from the pools of Paradise. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
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.