Chapter I: Battle
“We grasp our battle-spears: we don our breast-plates of hide.The axles of our chariots touch: our short swords meet.Standards obscure the sun: the foe roll up like clouds.Arrows fall thick: the warriors press forward.They menace our ranks: they break our line.The left-hand trace-horse is dead: the one on the right is smitten.The fallen horses block our wheels: they impede the yoke-horses!”
They grasp their jade drum-sticks: they beat the sounding drums.Heaven decrees their fall: the dread Powers are angry.
The warriors are all dead: they lie on the moor-field.They issued but shall not enter: they went but shall not return.The plains are flat and wide: the way home is long.
Their swords lie beside them: their black bows, in their hand.Though their limbs were torn, their hearts could not be repressed.They were more than brave: they were inspired with the spirit of“Wu.”Steadfast to the end, they could not be daunted.Their bodies were stricken, but their souls have taken Immortality--Captains among the ghosts, heroes among the dead.
Words in this poem
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- 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,]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: Battle is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Chapter I: Battle, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/chapter-i-battle.html, id L18741.
Form and metre
Chapter I: Battle is 19 lines in 4 stanzas. 78% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 A--ABB- hideA · meet · clouds · forwardA · lineB · smittenB · horses
- 4 ----A-A hand · repressed · of · wu · dauntedA · immortality · deadA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “We grasp our battle-spears: we don our breast-plates of hide. | 15 | ··/˘/˘···/˘···· |
| The axles of our chariots touch: our short swords meet. | 15 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Standards obscure the sun: the foe roll up like clouds. | 12 | /˘˘/········ |
| Arrows fall thick: the warriors press forward. | 11 | /˘···/˘˘·/˘ |
| They menace our ranks: they break our line. | 11 | ·/˘/˘···/˘· |
| The left-hand trace-horse is dead: the one on the right is smitten. | 15 | ·············/˘ |
| The fallen horses block our wheels: they impede the yoke-horses!” | 16 | ·/˘/˘·/˘··˘/··/˘ |
| They grasp their jade drum-sticks: they beat the sounding drums. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Heaven decrees their fall: the dread Powers are angry. | 13 | /˘˘/····/˘·/˘ |
| The warriors are all dead: they lie on the moor-field. | 13 | ·/˘˘········· |
| They issued but shall not enter: they went but shall not return. | 15 | ·/˘···/˘·····˘/ |
| The plains are flat and wide: the way home is long. | 11 | ··········· |
| Their swords lie beside them: their black bows, in their hand. | 12 | ···˘/······· |
| Though their limbs were torn, their hearts could not be repressed. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| They were more than brave: they were inspired with the spirit of | 15 | ·······˘/˘··/˘· |
| “Wu.” | 1 | · |
| Steadfast to the end, they could not be daunted. | 11 | /········/˘ |
| Their bodies were stricken, but their souls have taken Immortality-- | 17 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Captains among the ghosts, heroes among the dead. | 12 | /˘····/˘···· |
Notes from the edition 1
Arthur Waley's notes to A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918; Project Gutenberg #42290).
- Stanza 4, line 4 I.e., military genius.
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