Canto Sixth: The Guard-room II
At dawn the towers of Stirling rangWith soldier-step and weapon-clang,While drums with rolling note foretellRelief to weary sentinel.Through narrow loop and casement barred,The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard,And, struggling with the smoky air,Deadened the torches' yellow glare.In comfortless alliance shoneThe lights through arch of blackened stone,And showed wild shapes in garb of war,Faces deformed with beard and scar,All haggard from the midnight watch,And fevered with the stern debauch;For the oak table's massive board,Flooded with wine, with fragments stored,And beakers drained, and cups o'erthrown,Showed in what sport the night had flown.Some, weary, snored on floor and bench;Some labored still their thirst to quench;Some, chilled with watching, spread their handsO'er the huge chimney's dying brands,While round them, or beside them flung,At every step their harness rung.
Words in this poem
- clang v. t.
- To strike together so as to produce a ringing metallic sound. [L. clangere; akin to Gr. clank.]
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- comfortless a.
- Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless.
- garb n.
- External appearance, as expressive of the feelings or character; looks; fashion or manner, as of speech. [OF. garbe looks, countenance, grace, ornament, fr. OHG. garawi, garwi, ornament, dress. akin to E. gear. See Gear, n.]
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- chilled a.
- Hardened on the surface or edge by chilling; as, chilled iron; a chilled wheel.
- rung n.
- A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto Sixth: The Guard-room II 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 II, 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-ii.html, id L06650.
Form and metre
Canto Sixth: The Guard-room II is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCCDDEE--FFGGEEHHIIJJ rangA · clangA · foretellB · sentinelB · barredC · guardC · airD · glareD · shoneE · stoneE · war · scar · watchF · debauchF · boardG · storedG · o'erthrownE · flownE · benchH · quenchH · handsI · brandsI · flungJ · rungJ
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| At dawn the towers of Stirling rang | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| With soldier-step and weapon-clang, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| While drums with rolling note foretell | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Relief to weary sentinel. | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| Through narrow loop and casement barred, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And, struggling with the smoky air, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Deadened the torches' yellow glare. | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| In comfortless alliance shone | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| The lights through arch of blackened stone, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And showed wild shapes in garb of war, | 8 | ········ |
| Faces deformed with beard and scar, | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| All haggard from the midnight watch, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And fevered with the stern debauch; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| For the oak table's massive board, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Flooded with wine, with fragments stored, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| And beakers drained, and cups o'erthrown, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Showed in what sport the night had flown. | 8 | ········ |
| Some, weary, snored on floor and bench; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some labored still their thirst to quench; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some, chilled with watching, spread their hands | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O'er the huge chimney's dying brands, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While round them, or beside them flung, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| At every step their harness rung. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.