Lamentations
I found him in a 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 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, Lamentations, in The War Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #45199, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-war-poems/lamentations.html, id L17247.
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 a 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.