A Northern Legend: From the German of Uhland
There sits a lovely maiden,The ocean murmuring nigh;She throws the hook, and watches;The fishes pass it by.
A ring, with a red jewel,Is sparkling on her hand;Upon the hook she binds it,And flings it from the land.
Uprises from the waterA hand like ivory fair.What gleams upon its finger?The golden ring is there.
Uprises from the bottomA young and handsome knight;In golden scales he rises,That glitter in the light.
The maid is pale with terror--"Nay, Knight of Ocean, nay,It was not thee I wanted;Let go the ring, I pray."
"Ah, maiden, not to fishesThe bait of gold is thrown;The ring shall never leave me,And thou must be my own."
Words in this poem
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Northern Legend: From the German of Uhland is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; 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 Cullen Bryant, A Northern Legend: From the German of Uhland, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/a-northern-legend-from-the-german-of-uhland.html, id L07339.
Form and metre
A Northern Legend: From the German of Uhland is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 maiden · nighA · watches · byA
- 2 -A-A jewel · handA · it · landA
- 3 -A-A water · fairA · finger · thereA
- 4 -A-A bottom · knightA · rises · lightA
- 5 -A-A terror · nayA · wanted · prayA
- 6 -A-A fishes · thrownA · me · ownA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There sits a lovely maiden, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The ocean murmuring nigh; | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| She throws the hook, and watches; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The fishes pass it by. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A ring, with a red jewel, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Is sparkling on her hand; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Upon the hook she binds it, | 7 | ······· |
| And flings it from the land. | 6 | ······ |
| Uprises from the water | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| A hand like ivory fair. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| What gleams upon its finger? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The golden ring is there. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Uprises from the bottom | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| A young and handsome knight; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In golden scales he rises, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| That glitter in the light. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The maid is pale with terror-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| "Nay, Knight of Ocean, nay, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It was not thee I wanted; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Let go the ring, I pray." | 6 | ······ |
| "Ah, maiden, not to fishes | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The bait of gold is thrown; | 6 | ······ |
| The ring shall never leave me, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And thou must be my own." | 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.