War-Music
Break off! Dance no more!Danger is at the door.Music is in arms.To signal war's alarms.
Hark, a sudden trumpet callingOver the hill!Why are you calling, trumpet, calling?What is your will?
Men, men, men!Men who are ready to fightFor their country's life, and the rightOf a liberty-loving land to beFree, free, free!Free from a tyrant's chain,Free from dishonor's stain,Free to guard and maintainAll that her fathers fought for,All that her sons have wrought for,Resolute, brave, and free!
Call again, trumpet, call again,Call up the men!
Do you hear the storm of cheersMingled with the women's tearsAnd the tramp, tramp, tramp of marching feet?Do you hear the throbbing drumAs the hosts of battle comeKeeping time, time, time to its beat?O Music give a songTo make their spirit strongFor the fury of the tempest they must meet.
The hoarse roarOf the monster guns;And the sharp barkOf the lesser guns;The whine of the shells,The rifles' clatterWhere the bullets patter,The rattle, rattle, rattleOf the mitrailleuse in battle,And the yellsOf the men who charge through hellsWhere the poison gas descends,And the bursting shrapnel rendsLimb from limbIn the dimChaos and clamor of the strifeWhere no man thinks of his lifeBut only of fighting through,Blindly fighting through, through!
'Tis doneAt last!The victory won,The dissonance of warfare past!
O Music mourn the deadWhose loyal blood was shed,And sound the taps for every hero slain;Then lead into the songThat made their spirit strong,And tell the world they did not die in vain.
Thank God we can see, in the glory of morn,The invincible flag that our fathers defended;And our hearts can repeat what the heroes have sworn,That war shall not end till the war-lust is ended.Then the bloodthirsty sword shall no longer be lordOf the nations oppressed by the conqueror's horde,But the banners of Liberty proudly shall waveO'er the world of the free and the lands of the brave.
Words in this poem
- clatter v. i.
- To make a rattling sound by striking hard bodies together; to make a succession of abrupt, rattling sounds. [AS. cla a rattle, akin to D. klateren to rattle. Cf. Clack.]
- patter v. i.
- To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet. [Freq. of pat to strike gently.]
- mitrailleuse n.
- A breech-loading machine gun consisting of a number of barrels fitted together, so arranged that the barrels can be fired simultaneously, or successively, and rapidly. [F., fr. mitrailler to fire grapeshot, fr. mitraille old iron, grapeshot, dim. of OF. mite a mite.]
- shrapnel a.
- Applied as an appellation to a kind of shell invented by Gen.
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
- dissonance n.
- A mingling of discordant sounds; an inharmonious combination of sounds; discord. [L. dissonantia: cf. F. dissonance.]
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- 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,]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- bloodthirsty a.
- Eager to shed blood; cruel; sanguinary; murderous.
- horde n.
- A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson. [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
War-Music 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, War-Music, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/war-music.html, id L22975.
Form and metre
War-Music is 67 lines in 9 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 54% of the lines. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 AABB moreA · doorA · armsB · alarmsB
- 2 ABAB callingA · hillB · callingA · willB
- 3 -AABBCCCDDB men · fightA · rightA · beB · freeB · chainC · stainC · maintainC · forD · forD · freeB
- 4 AA againA · menA
- 5 AABCCBDDB cheersA · tearsA · feetB · drumC · comeC · beatB · songD · strongD · meetB
- 6 -A-ABCCDDBBEEFFGGHH roar · gunsA · bark · gunsA · shellsB · clatterC · patterC · rattleD · battleD · yellsB · hellsB · descendsE · rendsE · limbF · dimF · strifeG · lifeG · throughH · throughH
- 7 ABAB doneA · lastB · wonA · pastB
- 8 AABCCB deadA · shedA · slainB · songC · strongC · vainB
- 9 ABABCCDD mornA · defendedB · swornA · endedB · lordC · hordeC · waveD · braveD
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Break off! Dance no more! | 5 | ····· |
| Danger is at the door. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Music is in arms. | 5 | /˘··· |
| To signal war's alarms. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Hark, a sudden trumpet calling | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Over the hill! | 4 | ···· |
| Why are you calling, trumpet, calling? | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| What is your will? | 4 | ···· |
| Men, men, men! | 3 | ··· |
| Men who are ready to fight | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| For their country's life, and the right | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Of a liberty-loving land to be | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘··· |
| Free, free, free! | 3 | ··· |
| Free from a tyrant's chain, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Free from dishonor's stain, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Free to guard and maintain | 6 | ····˘/ |
| All that her fathers fought for, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| All that her sons have wrought for, | 7 | ······· |
| Resolute, brave, and free! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Call again, trumpet, call again, | 8 | ·˘//˘·˘/ |
| Call up the men! | 4 | ···· |
| Do you hear the storm of cheers | 7 | ······· |
| Mingled with the women's tears | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And the tramp, tramp, tramp of marching feet? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Do you hear the throbbing drum | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As the hosts of battle come | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Keeping time, time, time to its beat? | 8 | /˘······ |
| O Music give a song | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To make their spirit strong | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For the fury of the tempest they must meet. | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| The hoarse roar | 3 | ··· |
| Of the monster guns; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the sharp bark | 4 | ···· |
| Of the lesser guns; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The whine of the shells, | 5 | ····· |
| The rifles' clatter | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Where the bullets patter, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| The rattle, rattle, rattle | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Of the mitrailleuse in battle, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the yells | 3 | ··· |
| Of the men who charge through hells | 7 | ······· |
| Where the poison gas descends, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And the bursting shrapnel rends | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Limb from limb | 3 | ··· |
| In the dim | 3 | ··· |
| Chaos and clamor of the strife | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Where no man thinks of his life | 7 | ······· |
| But only of fighting through, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Blindly fighting through, through! | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| 'Tis done | 2 | ·· |
| At last! | 2 | ·· |
| The victory won, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| The dissonance of warfare past! | 8 | ·/˘˘·/·· |
| O Music mourn the dead | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Whose loyal blood was shed, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And sound the taps for every hero slain; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Then lead into the song | 6 | ······ |
| That made their spirit strong, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And tell the world they did not die in vain. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thank God we can see, in the glory of morn, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| The invincible flag that our fathers defended; | 12 | ·˘/˘··//˘˘/˘ |
| And our hearts can repeat what the heroes have sworn, | 12 | ·/··˘/··/˘·· |
| That war shall not end till the war-lust is ended. | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Then the bloodthirsty sword shall no longer be lord | 12 | ··/·˘···/˘·· |
| Of the nations oppressed by the conqueror's horde, | 11 | ··/˘˘/··/˘· |
| But the banners of Liberty proudly shall wave | 11 | ··/˘·/˘/˘·· |
| O'er the world of the free and the lands of the brave. | 12 | ············ |
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.