William Tell
When hostile elements with rage resound,And fury blindly fans war's lurid flame,--When in the strife of party quarrel drowned,The voice of justice no regard can claim,--When crime is free, and impious hands are foundThe sacred to pollute, devoid of shame,And loose the anchor which the state maintains,--No subject there we find for joyous strains.
But when a nation, that its flocks still feedsWith calm content, nor other's wealth desiresThrows off the cruel yoke 'neath which it bleeds,Yet, e'en in wrath, humanity admires,--And, e'en in triumph, moderation heeds,--That is immortal, and our song requires.To show thee such an image now is mine;Thou knowest it well, for all that's great is thine!
Words in this poem
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
William Tell 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, William Tell, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/william-tell.html, id L21925.
Form and metre
William Tell is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABABCC resoundA · flameB · drownedA · claimB · foundA · shameB · maintainsC · strainsC
- 2 ABA-ABCC feedsA · desiresB · bleedsA · admires · heedsA · requiresB · mineC · thineC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When hostile elements with rage resound, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···/ |
| And fury blindly fans war's lurid flame,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| When in the strife of party quarrel drowned, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The voice of justice no regard can claim,-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| When crime is free, and impious hands are found | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| The sacred to pollute, devoid of shame, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/·· |
| And loose the anchor which the state maintains,-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| No subject there we find for joyous strains. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But when a nation, that its flocks still feeds | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With calm content, nor other's wealth desires | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Throws off the cruel yoke 'neath which it bleeds, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet, e'en in wrath, humanity admires,-- | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| And, e'en in triumph, moderation heeds,-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| That is immortal, and our song requires. | 11 | ··˘/˘·/·˘/˘ |
| To show thee such an image now is mine; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou knowest it well, for all that's great is thine! | 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.