Lamentations
I found him in the guard-room at the Base.From the blind darkness I had heard his cryingAnd blundered in. With puzzled, patient faceA sergeant watched him; it was no good tryingTo stop it; for he howled and beat his chest.And, all because his brother had gone West,Raved at the bleeding war; his rampant griefMoaned, shouted, sobbed, and choked, while he was kneelingHalf-naked on the floor. In my beliefSuch men have lost all patriotic feeling.
About this text
Lamentations 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, Lamentations, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/lamentations.html, id L04700.
Form and metre
Lamentations is 10 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCCDEDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 60% 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 ABABCCDEDE baseA · cryingB · faceA · tryingB · chestC · westC · griefD · kneelingE · beliefD · feelingE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I found him in the guard-room at the Base. | 10 | ·········· |
| From the blind darkness I had heard his crying | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And blundered in. With puzzled, patient face | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| A sergeant watched him; it was no good trying | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| To stop it; for he howled and beat his chest. | 10 | ·········· |
| And, all because his brother had gone West, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Raved at the bleeding war; his rampant grief | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Moaned, shouted, sobbed, and choked, while he was kneeling | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Half-naked on the floor. In my belief | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Such men have lost all patriotic feeling. | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
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.