Counter-Attack
We'd gained our first objective hours beforeWhile dawn broke like a face with blinking eyes,Pallid, unshaved ind thirsty, blind with smoke.Things seemed all light at first. We held their line,With bombers posted, Lewis guns well placed,And clink of shovels deepening the shallow trench.The place was rotten with dead; green clumsy legsHigh-booted, sprawled and grovelled along the sapsAnd trunks, face downward in the sucking mud,Wallowed like trodden and bags loosely filled;And naked sodden buttocks, mats of hair,Bulged, clotted heads, slept in the plastering slime.And then the rain began,--the jolly old rain!
A yawning soldier knelt against the bank,Staring across the morning blear with fog;He wondered when the Allemands would get busy;And then, of course, they start'd with five-ninesTraversing, sure as fate, and never a dud.Mute in the clamour of shells he watched them burstSpouting dark earth and wire with gusts from hell,While posturing giants dissolved in drifts of smoke.He crouched and flinched, dizzy with galloping fear,Sick for escape,--loathing the strangled horrorAnd butchered, frantic gestures of the dead.
An officer came blundering down the trench:"Stand-to and man the fire-step!" On he went ...Gasping and bawling, "Fire-step ... counter-attack!"Then the haze lifted. Bombing on the rightDown the old sap: machine-guns on the left;And stumbling figures looming out in front."O Christ, they're coming at us!" Bullets spat,And he remembered his rifle ... rapid fire ...And started blazing wildly ... then a bangCrumpled and spun him sideways, knocked him outTo grunt and wriggle: none heeded him; he chokedAnd fought the flapping veils of smothering gloom,Lost in a blurred confusion of yells and groans.Down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned,Bleeding to death. The counter-attack had failed.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- clink v. t.
- To cause to give out a slight, sharp, tinkling, sound, as by striking metallic or other sonorous bodies together. [OE. clinken; akin to G. klingen, D. klinken, SW. klinga, Dan. klinge; prob. of imitative origin. Cf. Clank, Clench, Click, v. i.]
- clumsy a.
- Stiff or benumbed, as with cold. [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel. klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf. 1st Clam, and 1st Clamp.]
- blear a.
- Dim or sore with water or rheum; -- said of the eyes. [See Blear, v.]
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
- clamour n.
- A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. [OF. clamour, clamur, F. clameur, fr. L. clamor, fr. clamare to cry out. See Claim.]
- crouched a.
- Marked with the sign of the cross. Crouched friar. See Crutched friar, under Crutched.
- galloping a.
- Going at a gallop; progressing rapidly; as, a galloping horse.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- looming n.
- The indistinct and magnified appearance of objects seen in particular states of the atmosphere. See Mirage.
- spat n.
- A young oyster or other bivalve mollusk, both before and after it first becomes adherent, or such young, collectively. [From the root of spit; hence, literally, that which is ejected.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Counter-Attack 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, Counter-Attack, in The War Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #45199, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-war-poems/counter-attack.html, id L17240.
Form and metre
Counter-Attack is 39 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We'd gained our first objective hours before | 10 | ··/·˘/˘/·· |
| While dawn broke like a face with blinking eyes, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Pallid, unshaved ind thirsty, blind with smoke. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Things seemed all light at first. We held their line, | 10 | ·········· |
| With bombers posted, Lewis guns well placed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And clink of shovels deepening the shallow trench. | 11 | ···/˘/˘·/˘· |
| The place was rotten with dead; green clumsy legs | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| High-booted, sprawled and grovelled along the saps | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘/·· |
| And trunks, face downward in the sucking mud, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wallowed like trodden and bags loosely filled; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And naked sodden buttocks, mats of hair, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Bulged, clotted heads, slept in the plastering slime. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And then the rain began,--the jolly old rain! | 11 | ····˘/·/˘·· |
| A yawning soldier knelt against the bank, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Staring across the morning blear with fog; | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| He wondered when the Allemands would get busy; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| And then, of course, they start'd with five-nines | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Traversing, sure as fate, and never a dud. | 10 | ˘/˘····/·· |
| Mute in the clamour of shells he watched them burst | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Spouting dark earth and wire with gusts from hell, | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| While posturing giants dissolved in drifts of smoke. | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘/···· |
| He crouched and flinched, dizzy with galloping fear, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Sick for escape,--loathing the strangled horror | 11 | ··˘//˘·/˘/˘ |
| And butchered, frantic gestures of the dead. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| An officer came blundering down the trench: | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘··· |
| "Stand-to and man the fire-step!" On he went ... | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Gasping and bawling, "Fire-step ... counter-attack!" | 10 | /˘·/˘/·/˘/ |
| Then the haze lifted. Bombing on the right | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Down the old sap: machine-guns on the left; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And stumbling figures looming out in front. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| "O Christ, they're coming at us!" Bullets spat, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And he remembered his rifle ... rapid fire ... | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘/˘/ |
| And started blazing wildly ... then a bang | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Crumpled and spun him sideways, knocked him out | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| To grunt and wriggle: none heeded him; he choked | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| And fought the flapping veils of smothering gloom, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Lost in a blurred confusion of yells and groans. | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| Down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned, | 10 | ·········˘ |
| Bleeding to death. The counter-attack had failed. | 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.