Reported Concessions
So we must palter, falter, cringe, and shrink,And when the bully threatens, crouch or fly.--There are who tell me with a shuddering eyeThat war's red cup is Satan's chosen drink.Who shall gainsay them? Verily I do thinkWar is as hateful almost, and well-nighAs ghastly, as this terrible Peace wherebyWe halt for ever on the crater's brinkAnd feed the wind with phrases, while we knowThere gapes at hand the infernal precipiceO'er which a gossamer bridge of words we throw,Yet cannot choose but hear from the abyssThe sulphurous gloom's unfathomable hissAnd simmering lava's subterranean flow.
Words in this poem
- palter v. i.
- To haggle. Cotgrave. [See Paltry.]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
- 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,]
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- gossamer n.
- A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's ya]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Reported Concessions is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, Reported Concessions, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/reported-concessions.html, id L11297.
Form and metre
Reported Concessions is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 64% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDDC shrinkA · flyB · eyeB · drinkA · thinkA · nighB · wherebyB · brinkA · knowC · precipiceD · throwC · abyssD · hissD · flowC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So we must palter, falter, cringe, and shrink, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And when the bully threatens, crouch or fly.-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| There are who tell me with a shuddering eye | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That war's red cup is Satan's chosen drink. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Who shall gainsay them? Verily I do think | 11 | ··/··/˘˘··· |
| War is as hateful almost, and well-nigh | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| As ghastly, as this terrible Peace whereby | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| We halt for ever on the crater's brink | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And feed the wind with phrases, while we know | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| There gapes at hand the infernal precipice | 11 | ·····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| O'er which a gossamer bridge of words we throw, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet cannot choose but hear from the abyss | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The sulphurous gloom's unfathomable hiss | 10 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘˘· |
| And simmering lava's subterranean flow. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘· |
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.