"Come Back Again, Jeanne D'Arc"
The land was broken in despair,The princes quarrelled in the dark,When clear and tranquil, through the troubled airOf selfish minds and wills that did not dare,Your star arose, Jeanne d'Arc.
O virgin breast with lilies white,O sun-burned hand that bore the lance,You taught the prayer that helps men to unite,You brought the courage equal to the fight,You gave a heart to France!
Your king was crowned, your country free,At Rheims you had your soul's desire:And then, at Rouen, maid of Domremy,The black-robed judges gave your victoryThe martyr's crown of fire.
And now again the times are ill,And doubtful leaders miss the mark;The people lack the single faith and willTo make them one,--your country needs you still,--Come back again, Jeanne d'Arc!
O woman-star, arise once moreAnd shine to bid your land advance:The old heroic trust in God restore,Renew the brave, unselfish hopes of yore,And give a heart to France!
Words in this poem
- jeanne n.
- A twilled cotton cloth. Satin jean, a kind of jean woven smooth and glossy, after the manner of satin. [Prob. named from Genoa. See Jane.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Come Back Again, Jeanne D'Arc" is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Van Dyke, "Come Back Again, Jeanne D'Arc", in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/come-back-again-jeanne-d-arc.html, id L22911.
Form and metre
"Come Back Again, Jeanne D'Arc" is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAAB despairA · darkB · airA · dareA · d'arcB
- 2 ABAAB whiteA · lanceB · uniteA · fightA · franceB
- 3 -A--A free · desireA · domremy · victory · fireA
- 4 ABAAB illA · markB · willA · stillA · d'arcB
- 5 ABAAB moreA · advanceB · restoreA · yoreA · franceB
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 land was broken in despair, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The princes quarrelled in the dark, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| When clear and tranquil, through the troubled air | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of selfish minds and wills that did not dare, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Your star arose, Jeanne d'Arc. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| O virgin breast with lilies white, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| O sun-burned hand that bore the lance, | 8 | ········ |
| You taught the prayer that helps men to unite, | 10 | ········/· |
| You brought the courage equal to the fight, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| You gave a heart to France! | 6 | ······ |
| Your king was crowned, your country free, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At Rheims you had your soul's desire: | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| And then, at Rouen, maid of Domremy, | 9 | ········· |
| The black-robed judges gave your victory | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| The martyr's crown of fire. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And now again the times are ill, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And doubtful leaders miss the mark; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The people lack the single faith and will | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To make them one,--your country needs you still,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Come back again, Jeanne d'Arc! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| O woman-star, arise once more | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And shine to bid your land advance: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The old heroic trust in God restore, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Renew the brave, unselfish hopes of yore, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And give a heart to France! | 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.