Books of the War
In fifty years, when peace outshinesRemembrance of the battle lines,Adventurous lads will sigh and castProud looks upon the plundered past.On summer morn or winter's night,Their hearts will kindle for the fight,Reading a snatch of soldier-song,Savage and jaunty, fierce and strong;And through the angry marching rhymesOf blind regret and haggard mirth,They'll envy us the dazzling timesWhen sacrifice absolved our earth.
Some ancient man with silver locksWill lift his weary face to say:"War was a fiend who stopped our clocksAlthough we met him grim and gay."And then he'll speak of Haig's last drive,Marvelling that any came aliveOut of the shambles that men builtAnd smashed, to cleanse the world of guilt.But the boys, with grin and sidelong glance,Will think, "Poor grandad's day is done."And dream of lads who fought in Franceand lived in time to share the fun.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- sidelong adv.
- Laterally; obliquely; in the direction of the side. [See Sideling, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Books of the War is in the public domain. This text is taken from The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon, Project Gutenberg ebook #45199; 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, Books of the War, in The War Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #45199, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-war-poems/books-of-the-war.html, id L17280.
Form and metre
Books of the War is 24 lines in 2 stanzas of 12 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 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 AABBCCDDEFEF outshinesA · linesA · castB · pastB · nightC · fightC · songD · strongD · rhymesE · mirthF · timesE · earthF
- 2 ABABCCDDEFEF locksA · sayB · clocksA · gayB · driveC · aliveC · builtD · guiltD · glanceE · doneF · franceE · funF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In fifty years, when peace outshines | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| Remembrance of the battle lines, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Adventurous lads will sigh and cast | 9 | ˘/˘˘····· |
| Proud looks upon the plundered past. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| On summer morn or winter's night, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Their hearts will kindle for the fight, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Reading a snatch of soldier-song, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Savage and jaunty, fierce and strong; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And through the angry marching rhymes | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of blind regret and haggard mirth, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| They'll envy us the dazzling times | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| When sacrifice absolved our earth. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Some ancient man with silver locks | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Will lift his weary face to say: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "War was a fiend who stopped our clocks | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Although we met him grim and gay." | 8 | ········ |
| And then he'll speak of Haig's last drive, | 8 | ········ |
| Marvelling that any came alive | 9 | ˘/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Out of the shambles that men built | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And smashed, to cleanse the world of guilt. | 9 | ··˘······ |
| But the boys, with grin and sidelong glance, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Will think, "Poor grandad's day is done." | 8 | ···/···· |
| And dream of lads who fought in France | 8 | ········ |
| and lived in time to share the fun. | 9 | ··˘······ |
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.