In a Boat
Lady! Lady!Upon Heaven-height,Above the harsh morningIn the mere light.
Above the spindriftAnd above the snow,Where no seas tumble,And no winds blow.
The twisting tides,And the perilous sandsUpon all sidesAre in your holy hands.
The wind harriesAnd the cold kills;But I see your chapelOver far hills.
My body is frozen,My soul is afraid:Stretch out your hands to me,Mother and maid.
Mother of Christ,And Mother of me,Save me aliveFrom the howl of the sea.
If you will Mother meTill I grow old,I will hang in your chapelA ship of pure gold.
About this text
In a Boat is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #60663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Hilaire Belloc, In a Boat, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/in-a-boat.html, id L21677.
Form and metre
In a Boat is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-A lady · heightA · morning · lightA
- 2 -A-A spindrift · snowA · tumble · blowA
- 3 ABAB tidesA · sandsB · sidesA · handsB
- 4 -A-A harries · killsA · chapel · hillsA
- 5 -A-A frozen · afraidA · me · maidA
- 6 -A-A christ · meA · alive · seaA
- 7 -A-A me · oldA · chapel · goldA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lady! Lady! | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Upon Heaven-height, | 4 | ··/· |
| Above the harsh morning | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In the mere light. | 4 | ···· |
| Above the spindrift | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And above the snow, | 5 | ····· |
| Where no seas tumble, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And no winds blow. | 4 | ···· |
| The twisting tides, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And the perilous sands | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Upon all sides | 4 | ···· |
| Are in your holy hands. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The wind harries | 4 | ··/˘ |
| And the cold kills; | 4 | ···· |
| But I see your chapel | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Over far hills. | 4 | ···· |
| My body is frozen, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| My soul is afraid: | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Stretch out your hands to me, | 6 | ······ |
| Mother and maid. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Mother of Christ, | 4 | /˘·· |
| And Mother of me, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Save me alive | 4 | ··˘/ |
| From the howl of the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| If you will Mother me | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Till I grow old, | 4 | ···· |
| I will hang in your chapel | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A ship of pure gold. | 5 | ····· |
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.