Nadowessian Death-Lament
See, he sitteth on his matSitteth there upright,With the grace with which he satWhile he saw the light.
Where is now the sturdy gripe,--Where the breath sedate,That so lately whiffed the pipeToward the Spirit great?
Where the bright and falcon eye,That the reindeer's treadOn the waving grass could spy,Thick with dewdrops spread?
Where the limbs that used to dartSwifter through the snowThan the twenty-membered hart,Than the mountain roe?
Where the arm that sturdilyBent the deadly bow?See, its life hath fleeted by,--See, it hangeth low!
Happy he!--He now has goneWhere no snow is found:Where with maize the fields are sown,Self-sprung from the ground;
Where with birds each bush is filled,Where with game the wood;Where the fish, with joy unstilled,Wanton in the flood.
With the spirits blest he feeds,--Leaves us here in gloom;We can only praise his deeds,And his corpse entomb.
Farewell-gifts, then, hither bring,Sound the death-note sad!Bury with him everythingThat can make him glad!
'Neath his head the hatchet hideThat he boldly swung;And the bear's fat haunch beside,For the road is long;
And the knife, well sharpened,That, with slashes three,Scalp and skin from foeman's headTore off skilfully.
And to paint his body, placeDyes within his hand;Let him shine with ruddy graceIn the Spirit-land!
Words in this poem
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- sturdily adv.
- In a sturdy manner.
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- haunch n.
- The hip; the projecting region of the lateral parts of the pelvis and the hip joint; the hind part. [F. hanche, of German origin; cf. OD. hancke, hencke, and also OHG. ancha; prob. not akin to E. ankle.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nadowessian Death-Lament is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, Nadowessian Death-Lament, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/nadowessian-death-lament.html, id L21832.
Form and metre
Nadowessian Death-Lament is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 matA · uprightB · satA · lightB
- 2 ABAB gripeA · sedateB · pipeA · greatB
- 3 ABAB eyeA · treadB · spyA · spreadB
- 4 ABAB dartA · snowB · hartA · roeB
- 5 -A-A sturdily · bowA · by · lowA
- 6 -A-A gone · foundA · sown · groundA
- 7 ABAB filledA · woodB · unstilledA · floodB
- 8 ABAB feedsA · gloomB · deedsA · entombB
- 9 ABAB bringA · sadB · everythingA · gladB
- 10 A-A- hideA · swung · besideA · long
- 12 ABAB placeA · handB · graceA · landB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| See, he sitteth on his mat | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sitteth there upright, | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| With the grace with which he sat | 7 | ······· |
| While he saw the light. | 5 | ····· |
| Where is now the sturdy gripe,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the breath sedate, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| That so lately whiffed the pipe | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Toward the Spirit great? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where the bright and falcon eye, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That the reindeer's tread | 5 | ··/·· |
| On the waving grass could spy, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thick with dewdrops spread? | 5 | ····· |
| Where the limbs that used to dart | 7 | ······· |
| Swifter through the snow | 5 | /˘··· |
| Than the twenty-membered hart, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Than the mountain roe? | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Where the arm that sturdily | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Bent the deadly bow? | 5 | ··/˘· |
| See, its life hath fleeted by,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| See, it hangeth low! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Happy he!--He now has gone | 7 | /˘····· |
| Where no snow is found: | 5 | ····· |
| Where with maize the fields are sown, | 7 | ······· |
| Self-sprung from the ground; | 5 | ····· |
| Where with birds each bush is filled, | 7 | ······· |
| Where with game the wood; | 5 | ····· |
| Where the fish, with joy unstilled, | 7 | ······· |
| Wanton in the flood. | 5 | /˘··· |
| With the spirits blest he feeds,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Leaves us here in gloom; | 5 | ····· |
| We can only praise his deeds, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And his corpse entomb. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Farewell-gifts, then, hither bring, | 7 | ·/··/˘· |
| Sound the death-note sad! | 5 | ····· |
| Bury with him everything | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| That can make him glad! | 5 | ····· |
| 'Neath his head the hatchet hide | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That he boldly swung; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the bear's fat haunch beside, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| For the road is long; | 5 | ····· |
| And the knife, well sharpened, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| That, with slashes three, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Scalp and skin from foeman's head | 7 | ······· |
| Tore off skilfully. | 5 | ····· |
| And to paint his body, place | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Dyes within his hand; | 5 | ····· |
| Let him shine with ruddy grace | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In the Spirit-land! | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.