The Rose of Peace
If Michael, leader of God's hostWhen Heaven and Hell are met,Looked down on you from Heaven's door-postHe would his deeds forget.
Brooding no more upon God's warsIn his Divine homestead,He would go weave out of the starsA chaplet for your head.
And all folk seeing him bow down,And white stars tell your praise,Would come at last to God's great town,Led on by gentle ways;
And God would bid His warfare cease.Saying all things were well;And softly make a rosy peace,A peace of Heaven with Hell.
Words in this poem
- chaplet n.
- A garland or wreath to be worn on the head. [F. chapelet, dim. of OF. chapel hat, garland, dim. fr. LL. cappa. See Cap, and cf. Chapelet, Chapeau.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rose of Peace is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #38877; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. B. Yeats, The Rose of Peace, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38877, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-poems/the-rose-of-peace.html, id L16650.
Form and metre
The Rose of Peace is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB hostA · metB · postA · forgetB
- 2 -A-A wars · homesteadA · stars · headA
- 3 ABAB downA · praiseB · townA · waysB
- 4 ABAB ceaseA · wellB · peaceA · hellB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If Michael, leader of God's host | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| When Heaven and Hell are met, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Looked down on you from Heaven's door-post | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| He would his deeds forget. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Brooding no more upon God's wars | 8 | /˘······ |
| In his Divine homestead, | 6 | ··˘//· |
| He would go weave out of the stars | 8 | ········ |
| A chaplet for your head. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And all folk seeing him bow down, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And white stars tell your praise, | 6 | ······ |
| Would come at last to God's great town, | 8 | ········ |
| Led on by gentle ways; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And God would bid His warfare cease. | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Saying all things were well; | 6 | /˘···· |
| And softly make a rosy peace, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A peace of Heaven with Hell. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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.