The Triumph
When life was a cobweb of stars for Beauty who cameIn the whisper of leaves or a bird's lone cry in the glen,On dawn-lit hills and horizons girdled with flameI sought for the triumph that troubles the faces of men.
With death in the terrible flickering gloom of the fightI was cruel and fierce with despair; I was naked and bound;was stricken: and Beauty returned through the shambles of night;In the faces of men she returned; and their triumph I found.
Words in this poem
- cobweb n.
- The network spread by a spider to catch its prey. [Cob a spider + web.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Triumph 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, The Triumph, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/the-triumph.html, id L04718.
Form and metre
The Triumph is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 76% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.5 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABAB cameA · glenB · flameA · menB
- 2 ABAB fightA · boundB · nightA · foundB
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 anapaestic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When life was a cobweb of stars for Beauty who came | 13 | ····/····/˘·· |
| In the whisper of leaves or a bird's lone cry in the glen, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| On dawn-lit hills and horizons girdled with flame | 12 | ·····˘/˘/˘·· |
| I sought for the triumph that troubles the faces of men. | 14 | ····/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| With death in the terrible flickering gloom of the fight | 12 | ····/˘/˘···· |
| I was cruel and fierce with despair; I was naked and bound; | 14 | ··/···˘/··/˘·· |
| was stricken: and Beauty returned through the shambles of night; | 14 | ·/˘·/˘˘/··/˘·· |
| In the faces of men she returned; and their triumph I found. | 15 | ··/˘···˘/··/˘·· |
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.