The English Dead
Give honour to our heroes fall'n, how illSoe'er the cause that bade them forth to die.Honour to him, the untimely struck, whom highIn place, more high in hope, 'twas fate's harsh willWith tedious pain unsplendidly to kill.Honour to him, doom'd splendidly to die,Child of the city whose foster-child am I,Who, hotly leading up the ensanguin'd hillHis charging thousand, fell without a word--Fell, but shall fall not from our memory.Also for them let honour's voice be heardWho nameless sleep, while dull time coverethWith no illustrious shade of laurel tree,But with the poppy alone, their deeds and death.
Words in this poem
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- splendidly adv.
- In a splendid manner; magnificently.
- hotly adv.
- In a hot or fiery manner; ardently; vehemently; violently; hastily; as, a hotly pursued. [From Hot, a.]
- 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,]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The English Dead 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, The English Dead, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-english-dead.html, id L11289.
Form and metre
The English Dead is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBAC-CD-D illA · dieB · highB · willA · killA · dieB · iB · hillA · wordC · memory · heardC · coverethD · tree · deathD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Give honour to our heroes fall'n, how ill | 10 | ·/˘·//˘··· |
| Soe'er the cause that bade them forth to die. | 9 | ········· |
| Honour to him, the untimely struck, whom high | 11 | /˘···˘/˘··· |
| In place, more high in hope, 'twas fate's harsh will | 10 | ·········· |
| With tedious pain unsplendidly to kill. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Honour to him, doom'd splendidly to die, | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| Child of the city whose foster-child am I, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| Who, hotly leading up the ensanguin'd hill | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| His charging thousand, fell without a word-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Fell, but shall fall not from our memory. | 11 | ······/˘/˘˘ |
| Also for them let honour's voice be heard | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Who nameless sleep, while dull time covereth | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| With no illustrious shade of laurel tree, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| But with the poppy alone, their deeds and death. | 11 | ···/˘˘/···· |
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.