The Soudanese
They wrong'd not us, nor sought 'gainst us to wageThe bitter battle. On their God they criedFor succour, deeming justice to abideIn heaven, if banish'd from earth's vicinage.And when they rose with a gall'd lion's rage,We, on the captor's, keeper's, tamer's side,We, with the alien tyranny allied,We bade them back to their Egyptian cage.Scarce knew they who we were! A wind of blightFrom the mysterious far north-west we came.Our greatness now their veriest babes have learn'd,Where, in wild desert homes, by day, by night,Thousands that weep their warriors unreturn'd,O England, O my country, curse thy name!
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- vicinage n.
- The place or places adjoining or near; neighborhood; vicinity; as, a jury must be of the vicinage. [OF. veisinage, F. voisinage, from OF. veisin, F. voisin, neighboring, a neighbor, L. vicunus. See Vicinity.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Soudanese 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 Soudanese, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-soudanese.html, id L11287.
Form and metre
The Soudanese is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% 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. 29% 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 ABB-ABBACD-C-D wageA · criedB · abideB · vicinage · rageA · sideB · alliedB · cageA · blightC · cameD · learn'd · nightC · unreturn'd · nameD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They wrong'd not us, nor sought 'gainst us to wage | 10 | ·········· |
| The bitter battle. On their God they cried | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| For succour, deeming justice to abide | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| In heaven, if banish'd from earth's vicinage. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And when they rose with a gall'd lion's rage, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| We, on the captor's, keeper's, tamer's side, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| We, with the alien tyranny allied, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| We bade them back to their Egyptian cage. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Scarce knew they who we were! A wind of blight | 10 | ·········· |
| From the mysterious far north-west we came. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Our greatness now their veriest babes have learn'd, | 10 | //˘······· |
| Where, in wild desert homes, by day, by night, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thousands that weep their warriors unreturn'd, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| O England, O my country, curse thy name! | 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.