Usheen
Put the staff in my hands; for I go to the Fenians, O cleric, to chauntThe war-songs that roused them of old; they will rise, making cloudswith their breathInnumerable, singing, exultant; the clay underneath them shall pant,And demons be broken in pieces, and trampled beneath them in death.
And demons afraid in their darkness; deep horror of eyes and of wings,Afraid their ears on the earth laid, shall listen and rise up and weep;Hearing the shaking of shields and the quiver of stretched bowstrings,Hearing hell loud with a murmur, as shouting and mocking we sweep.
We will tear out the flaming stones, and batter the gateway of brassAnd enter, and none sayeth "No" when there enters the stronglyarmed guest;Make clean as a broom cleans, and march on as oxen move over young grass;Then feast, making converse of wars, and of old wounds,and turn to our rest.
Words in this poem
- cleric n.
- A clerk, a clergyman. Bp. Horsley. [AS., fr. L. clericus. See Clerk.]
- exultant a.
- Inclined to exult; characterized by, or expressing, exultation; rejoicing triumphantly. [L. exsultans, exsultantis, p. pr. of exsultare. See Exult.]
- 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,]
- pant v. i.
- To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Usheen 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, Usheen, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38877, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-poems/usheen-3.html, id L16704.
Form and metre
Usheen is 15 lines in 3 stanzas. 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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-BAB chauntA · clouds · breathB · pantA · deathB
- 2 ABAB wingsA · weepB · bowstringsA · sweepB
- 3 A-BA-B brassA · strongly · guestB · grassA · wounds · restB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Put the staff in my hands; for I go to the Fenians, O cleric, to chaunt | 18 | ···········/˘·/˘·· |
| The war-songs that roused them of old; they will rise, making clouds | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| with their breath | 3 | ··· |
| Innumerable, singing, exultant; the clay underneath them shall pant, | 16 | ˘/˘/˘˘/˘···˘/··· |
| And demons be broken in pieces, and trampled beneath them in death. | 17 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘····· |
| And demons afraid in their darkness; deep horror of eyes and of wings, | 17 | ·/˘˘/··/˘·/˘····· |
| Afraid their ears on the earth laid, shall listen and rise up and weep; | 16 | ˘/·······/˘····· |
| Hearing the shaking of shields and the quiver of stretched bowstrings, | 15 | /˘·/˘····/˘···· |
| Hearing hell loud with a murmur, as shouting and mocking we sweep. | 16 | /˘····/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| We will tear out the flaming stones, and batter the gateway of brass | 16 | ·····/˘··/˘·/··· |
| And enter, and none sayeth "No" when there enters the strongly | 14 | ·/˘······/˘·/˘ |
| armed guest; | 2 | ·· |
| Make clean as a broom cleans, and march on as oxen move over young grass; | 16 | ··········/˘···· |
| Then feast, making converse of wars, and of old wounds, | 12 | ··/˘/˘······ |
| and turn to our rest. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.