Jeanne D'Arc Returns
What hast thou done, O womanhood of France,Mother and daughter, sister, sweetheart, wife,What hast thou done, amid this fateful strife,To prove the pride of thine inheritanceIn this fair land of freedom and romance?I hear thy voice with tears and courage rife,--Smiling against the swords that seek thy life,--Make answer in a noble utterance:"I give France all I have, and all she asks.Would it were more! Ah, let her ask and take:My hands to nurse her wounded, do her tasks,--My feet to run her errands through the dark,--My heart to bleed in triumph for her sake,--And all my soul to follow thee, Jeanne d'Arc!"
This sonnet belongs with the poem on page 309,"Come Back Again, Jeanne D'Arc."
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- fateful a.
- Having the power of serving or accomplishing fate.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- 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.]
- sonnet n.
- A short poem, -- usually amatory. [F., fr. It. sonetto, fr. suono a sound, a song, fr. L. sonus a sound. See Sound noise.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Jeanne D'Arc Returns 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, Jeanne D'Arc Returns, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/jeanne-d-arc-returns.html, id L22934.
Form and metre
Jeanne D'Arc Returns is 16 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABBAABBACDCEDE franceA · wifeB · strifeB · inheritanceA · romanceA · rifeB · lifeB · utteranceA · asksC · takeD · tasksC · darkE · sakeD · d'arcE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What hast thou done, O womanhood of France, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Mother and daughter, sister, sweetheart, wife, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘/·· |
| What hast thou done, amid this fateful strife, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| To prove the pride of thine inheritance | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| In this fair land of freedom and romance? | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| I hear thy voice with tears and courage rife,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Smiling against the swords that seek thy life,-- | 10 | /˘········ |
| Make answer in a noble utterance: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| "I give France all I have, and all she asks. | 10 | ·········· |
| Would it were more! Ah, let her ask and take: | 10 | ·········· |
| My hands to nurse her wounded, do her tasks,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My feet to run her errands through the dark,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My heart to bleed in triumph for her sake,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all my soul to follow thee, Jeanne d'Arc!" | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| This sonnet belongs with the poem on page 309, | 10 | ·/˘˘/··/·· |
| "Come Back Again, Jeanne D'Arc." | 6 | ··˘/·· |
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