Set to Music by Mr. Walsh
I ponder many a silent hour,On friends belov'd when far at sea,And, tell me, have I not the powerTo draw one kindred thought to me!
The while we linger on the coast,My truant fancy homeward flies,And when the view is almost lost,Unmanly tears bedew my eyes--
And oft forgetful do I stand,Nor crew, nor ship, nor ocean see;And often does my heart demand,If friends belov'd thus think on me!
And when to England bound once more,I shall with fond impatience burn,Will not some others on the shoreAs fondly look for my return!
O! let me of your kindness hear!Repeat the strain as I depart!It swells like music on my ear,It falls like balm upon my heart.
Words in this poem
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- bedew v. t.
- To moisten with dew, or as with dew.
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- 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,]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Set to Music by Mr. Walsh is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #9998; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matilda Betham, Set to Music by Mr. Walsh, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/set-to-music-by-mr-walsh.html, id L23519.
Form and metre
Set to Music by Mr. Walsh is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 hourA · seaB · powerA · meB
- 2 -A-A coast · fliesA · lost · eyesA
- 3 ABAB standA · seeB · demandA · meB
- 4 ABAB moreA · burnB · shoreA · returnB
- 5 ABAB hearA · departB · earA · heartB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I ponder many a silent hour, | 9 | ·/˘/·/˘/˘ |
| On friends belov'd when far at sea, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And, tell me, have I not the power | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| To draw one kindred thought to me! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The while we linger on the coast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My truant fancy homeward flies, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And when the view is almost lost, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Unmanly tears bedew my eyes-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And oft forgetful do I stand, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Nor crew, nor ship, nor ocean see; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And often does my heart demand, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| If friends belov'd thus think on me! | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And when to England bound once more, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I shall with fond impatience burn, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Will not some others on the shore | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As fondly look for my return! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| O! let me of your kindness hear! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Repeat the strain as I depart! | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| It swells like music on my ear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It falls like balm upon my heart. | 8 | ········ |
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.