Canto Sixth: The Guard-room I
The sun, awakening, through the smoky airOf the dark city casts a sullen glance,Rousing each caitiff to his task of care,Of sinful man the sad inheritance;Summoning revellers from the lagging dance,Scaring the prowling robber to his den;Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance,And warning student pale to leave his pen,And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men.
What various scenes, and O, what scenes of woe,Are witnessed by that red and struggling beam!The fevered patient, from his pallet low,Through crowded hospital beholds it stream;The ruined maiden trembles at its gleam,The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail,'The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream:The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale,Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble wail.
Words in this poem
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- caitiff a.
- Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. chétif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave.]
- lagging n.
- The clothing (esp., an outer, wooden covering), as of a steam cylinder, applied to prevent the radiation of heat; a covering of lags; -- called also deading and cleading.
- prowling a.
- Accustomed to prowl, or engaged in roving stealthily, as for prey.
- pallet n.
- A small and mean bed; a bed of straw. [OE. paillet, F. paillet a heap of straw, fr. paille straw, fr. L. palea chaff; cf. Gr. pala straw, palava chaff. Cf. Paillasse.]
- hospital n.
- A place for shelter or entertainment; an inn. [OF. hospital, ospital, F. hôpital, LL. hospitale (or perh. E. hospital is directly from the Late Latin), from L. hospitalis relating to a guest, hospitalia apar]
- gyve n.
- A shackle; especially, one to confine the legs; a fetter. [Of Celtic origin; cf. W. gefyn, Ir. geibbionn, Gael. geimheal.]
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto Sixth: The Guard-room I is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Lady of the Lake, Project Gutenberg ebook #3011; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter Scott, Canto Sixth: The Guard-room I, in The Lady of the Lake (1810), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3011, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/scott-lady-of-the-lake/canto-sixth-the-guard-room-i.html, id L06649.
Form and metre
Canto Sixth: The Guard-room I is 18 lines in 2 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBCC, the Spenserian stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in the Spenserian stanza, 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 ABABBCBCC airA · glanceB · careA · inheritanceB · danceB · denC · lanceB · penC · menC
- 2 ABABBCBCC woeA · beamB · lowA · streamB · gleamB · jailC · dreamB · paleC · wailC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sun, awakening, through the smoky air | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of the dark city casts a sullen glance, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Rousing each caitiff to his task of care, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Of sinful man the sad inheritance; | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Summoning revellers from the lagging dance, | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘· |
| Scaring the prowling robber to his den; | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance, | 10 | /˘·/˘/·/˘· |
| And warning student pale to leave his pen, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| What various scenes, and O, what scenes of woe, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Are witnessed by that red and struggling beam! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The fevered patient, from his pallet low, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Through crowded hospital beholds it stream; | 10 | ·/˘/·˘˘/·· |
| The ruined maiden trembles at its gleam, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream: | 10 | ······/·˘· |
| The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble wail. | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
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.