Liebestod
I who, conceived beneath another star,Had been a prince and played with life, insteadHave been its slave, an outcast exiled farFrom the fair things my faith has merited.My ways have been the ways that wanderers treadAnd those that make romance of poverty --Soldier, I shared the soldier's board and bed,And Joy has been a thing more oft to meWhispered by summer wind and summer seaThan known incarnate in the hours it liesAll warm against our hearts and laughs into our eyes.
I know not if in risking my best daysI shall leave utterly behind me hereThis dream that lightened me through lonesome waysAnd that no disappointment made less dear;Sometimes I think that, where the hilltops rearTheir white entrenchments back of tangled wire,Behind the mist Death only can make clear,There, like Brunhilde ringed with flaming fire,Lies what shall ease my heart's immense desire:There, where beyond the horror and the painOnly the brave shall pass, only the strong attain.
Truth or delusion, be it as it may,Yet think it true, dear friends, for, thinking so,That thought shall nerve our sinews on the dayWhen to the last assault our bugles blow:Reckless of pain and peril we shall go,Heads high and hearts aflame and bayonets bare,And we shall brave eternity as thoughEyes looked on us in which we would seem fair --One waited in whose presence we would wear,Even as a lover who would be well-seen,Our manhood faultless and our honor clean.
Words in this poem
- outcast a.
- Cast out; degraded. [Cf. Sw. utkasta to cast out.]
- incarnate a.
- Not in the flesh; spiritual. [Pref. in- not + carnate.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- lonesome a.
- Secluded from society; not frequented by human beings; solitary.
- disappointment n.
- The act of disappointing, or the state of being disappointed; defeat or failure of expectation or hope; miscarriage of design or plan; frustration. [Cf. F. désappointement.]
- aflame adv.
- Inflames; glowing with light or passion; ablaze. G. Eliot. [Pref. a- + flame.]
- faultless a.
- Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Liebestod 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, Liebestod, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/liebestod.html, id L12981.
Form and metre
Liebestod is 33 lines in 3 stanzas of 11 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBCCDD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 ABABBCBCCDD starA · insteadB · farA · meritedB · treadB · povertyC · bedB · meC · seaC · liesD · eyesD
- 2 ABABBCBCCDD daysA · hereB · waysA · dearB · rearB · wireC · clearB · fireC · desireC · painD · attainD
- 3 ABABBCBCCDD mayA · soB · dayA · blowB · goB · bareC · thoughB · fairC · wearC · seenD · cleanD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I who, conceived beneath another star, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Had been a prince and played with life, instead | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Have been its slave, an outcast exiled far | 10 | ·····/·/·· |
| From the fair things my faith has merited. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| My ways have been the ways that wanderers tread | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And those that make romance of poverty -- | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| Soldier, I shared the soldier's board and bed, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| And Joy has been a thing more oft to me | 10 | ·········· |
| Whispered by summer wind and summer sea | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Than known incarnate in the hours it lies | 10 | ··˘/˘··/·· |
| All warm against our hearts and laughs into our eyes. | 12 | ····/·····/· |
| I know not if in risking my best days | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I shall leave utterly behind me here | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| This dream that lightened me through lonesome ways | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And that no disappointment made less dear; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Sometimes I think that, where the hilltops rear | 10 | ˘/·····/·· |
| Their white entrenchments back of tangled wire, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Behind the mist Death only can make clear, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| There, like Brunhilde ringed with flaming fire, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Lies what shall ease my heart's immense desire: | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| There, where beyond the horror and the pain | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Only the brave shall pass, only the strong attain. | 12 | /˘····/˘··˘/ |
| Truth or delusion, be it as it may, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Yet think it true, dear friends, for, thinking so, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That thought shall nerve our sinews on the day | 10 | ····/····· |
| When to the last assault our bugles blow: | 10 | ····˘///˘· |
| Reckless of pain and peril we shall go, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Heads high and hearts aflame and bayonets bare, | 11 | ····˘/·/˘·· |
| And we shall brave eternity as though | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Eyes looked on us in which we would seem fair -- | 10 | ·········· |
| One waited in whose presence we would wear, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Even as a lover who would be well-seen, | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| Our manhood faultless and our honor clean. | 10 | //·/˘·//˘· |
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.