Survivors
No doubt they'll soon get well; the shock and strainHave caused their stammering, disconnected talk.Of course they're "longing to go out again,"--These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk,They'll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowedSubjection to the ghosts of friends who died,--Their dreams that drip with murder; and they'll be proudOf glorious war that shatter'd all their pride ...Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.
Words in this poem
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- drip v. i.
- To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Survivors 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, Survivors, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/survivors.html, id L04719.
Form and metre
Survivors is 10 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 30% 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 ABABCDCDEE strainA · talkB · againA · walkB · cowedC · diedD · proudC · prideD · gladE · madE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No doubt they'll soon get well; the shock and strain | 10 | ·········· |
| Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of course they're "longing to go out again,"-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| They'll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,-- | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Their dreams that drip with murder; and they'll be proud | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Of glorious war that shatter'd all their pride ... | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Men who went out to battle, grim and glad; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad. | 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.