National Song
There is no land like EnglandWhere’er the light of day be;There are no hearts like English hearts,Such hearts of oak as they be.There is no land like EnglandWhere’er the light of day be;There are no men like Englishmen,So tall and bold as they be.
For the French the Pope may shrive ’em,For the devil a whit we heed ’em,As for the French, God speed ’emUnto their hearts’ desire,And the merry devil drive ’emThrough the water and the fire.
Our glory is our freedom,We lord it o’er the sea;We are the sons of freedom,We are free.
There is no land like England,Where’er the light of day be;There are no wives like English wives,So fair and chaste as they be.There is no land like England,Where’er the light of day be;There are no maids like English maids,So beautiful as they be.
Words in this poem
- shrive v. t.
- To hear or receive the confession of; to administer confession and absolution to; -- said of a priest as the agent. [OE. shriven, schriven, AS. scrivan to shrive, to impose penance or punishment; akin to OFries. skriva to impose punishment; cf. OS. biskriban to be troubled. Cf]
- whit n.
- The smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota; -- generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence. [OE. wight, wiht, AS. wiht a creature, a thing. See Wight, and cf. Aught, Naught.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
National Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Project Gutenberg ebook #8601; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Tennyson, National Song, in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/national-song.html, id L16600.
Form and metre
National Song is 26 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AB-BAB-B englandA · beB · hearts · beB · englandA · beB · englishmen · beB
- 2 AAABAB emA · emA · emA · desireB · emA · fireB
- 3 ABAB freedomA · seaB · freedomA · freeB
- 4 AB-BAB-B englandA · beB · wives · beB · englandA · beB · maids · beB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There is no land like England | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where’er the light of day be; | 8 | ˘˘/····· |
| There are no hearts like English hearts, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Such hearts of oak as they be. | 7 | ······· |
| There is no land like England | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where’er the light of day be; | 8 | ˘˘/····· |
| There are no men like Englishmen, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| So tall and bold as they be. | 7 | ······· |
| For the French the Pope may shrive ’em, | 8 | ········ |
| For the devil a whit we heed ’em, | 8 | ··/····· |
| As for the French, God speed ’em | 7 | ······· |
| Unto their hearts’ desire, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And the merry devil drive ’em | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Through the water and the fire. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Our glory is our freedom, | 9 | /˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| We lord it o’er the sea; | 6 | ······ |
| We are the sons of freedom, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We are free. | 3 | ··· |
| There is no land like England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where’er the light of day be; | 8 | ˘˘/····· |
| There are no wives like English wives, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So fair and chaste as they be. | 7 | ······· |
| There is no land like England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where’er the light of day be; | 8 | ˘˘/····· |
| There are no maids like English maids, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So beautiful as they be. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
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.