Saballidin: To-Morrow?
RUAHMAH:Yes, for I will tarry here,While you conduct him to Elisha's houseTo find the promised healing. I forebodeA sudden danger from the craven KingOf Israel, or else a secret ambushFrom those who hate us in Damascus. Go,But leave me twenty men: this mountain-passProtects the road behind you. Make my lordObey the prophet's word, whatever he commands,And come again in peace. Farewell!
Words in this poem
- forebode n.
- Prognostication; presage.
- craven v. t.
- To make recreant, weak, spiritless, or cowardly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Saballidin: To-Morrow? 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, Saballidin: To-Morrow?, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/saballidin-to-morrow.html, id L22988.
Form and metre
Saballidin: To-Morrow? is 11 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| RUAHMAH: | 2 | ·· |
| Yes, for I will tarry here, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| While you conduct him to Elisha's house | 10 | ··/˘··/˘˘· |
| To find the promised healing. I forebode | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| A sudden danger from the craven King | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of Israel, or else a secret ambush | 10 | ·/˘···/˘/· |
| From those who hate us in Damascus. Go, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| But leave me twenty men: this mountain-pass | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Protects the road behind you. Make my lord | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Obey the prophet's word, whatever he commands, | 12 | ˘/·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And come again in peace. Farewell! | 8 | ··˘/···/ |
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.