Alan
Alas for her that met me,That heard me softly call,Came glimmering thro' the laurelsIn the quiet evenfall,In the garden by the turretsOf the old manorial hall.
They took the village, they drove the invaders out;but for some reason unknown--perhaps a very good one --the battlefield was left unvisited that night. Next morning,Alan Seeger lay dead.
And on those furthest rims of hallowed groundWhere the forlorn, the gallant charge expires,When the slain bugler has long ceased to sound,And on the tangled wiresThe last wild rally staggers, crumbles, stops,Withered beneath the shrapnel's iron showers: --Now heaven be thanked, we gave a few brave drops,Now heaven be thanked, a few brave drops were ours.
Who, not unmindful of the antique debt,Came back the generous path of Lafayette,
The resignation and the calmAnd wisdom of the East,
Words in this poem
- evenfall n.
- Beginning of evening.
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- bugler n.
- One who plays on a bugle.
- rally v. t.
- To collect, and reduce to order, as troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite. [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- resignation n.
- The act of resigning or giving up, as a claim, possession, office, or the like; surrender; as, the resignation of a crown or comission. [F. résignation. See Resign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Alan is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, Alan, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/alan.html, id L12919.
Form and metre
Alan is 22 lines in 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% 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 -A-A-A me · callA · laurels · evenfallA · turrets · hallA
- 3 ABABCDCD groundA · expiresB · soundA · wiresB · stopsC · showersD · dropsC · oursD
- 4 AA debtA · lafayetteA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alas for her that met me, | 7 | ˘/····· |
| That heard me softly call, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Came glimmering thro' the laurels | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| In the quiet evenfall, | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| In the garden by the turrets | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Of the old manorial hall. | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| They took the village, they drove the invaders out; | 12 | ···/˘···˘/˘· |
| but for some reason unknown--perhaps a very good one -- | 14 | ···/˘˘/˘/·/˘·· |
| the battlefield was left unvisited that night. Next morning, | 15 | ·/˘··········/˘ |
| Alan Seeger lay dead. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| And on those furthest rims of hallowed ground | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where the forlorn, the gallant charge expires, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| When the slain bugler has long ceased to sound, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And on the tangled wires | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The last wild rally staggers, crumbles, stops, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Withered beneath the shrapnel's iron showers: -- | 11 | /˘···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Now heaven be thanked, we gave a few brave drops, | 10 | ·/········ |
| Now heaven be thanked, a few brave drops were ours. | 11 | ·/·······/˘ |
| Who, not unmindful of the antique debt, | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| Came back the generous path of Lafayette, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The resignation and the calm | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And wisdom of the East, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.