A Song of Pitcairn's Island
Come take our boy, and we will goBefore our cabin door;The winds shall bring us, as they blow,The murmurs of the shore;And we will kiss his young blue eyes,And I will sing him, as he lies,Songs that were made of yore:I'll sing, in his delighted ear,The island lays thou lov'st to hear.
And thou, while stammering I repeat,Thy country's tongue shalt teach;'Tis not so soft, but far more sweetThan my own native speech:For thou no other tongue didst know,When, scarcely twenty moons ago,Upon Tahete's beach,Thou cam'st to woo me to be thine,With many a speaking look and sign.
I knew thy meaning--thou didst praiseMy eyes, my locks of jet;Ah! well for me they won thy gaze,--But thine were fairer yet!I'm glad to see my infant wearThy soft blue eyes and sunny hair,And when my sight is metBy his white brow and blooming cheek,I feel a joy I cannot speak.
Come talk of Europe's maids with me,Whose necks and cheeks, they tell,Outshine the beauty of the sea,White foam and crimson shell.I'll shape like theirs my simple dress,And bind like them each jetty tress,A sight to please thee well:And for my dusky brow will braidA bonnet like an English maid.
Come, for the low sunlight calls,We lose the pleasant hours;'Tis lovelier than these cottage walls,--That seat among the flowers.And I will learn of thee a prayer,To Him who gave a home so fair,A lot so blest as ours--The God who made, for thee and me,This sweet lone isle amid the sea.
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,]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- outshine v. i.
- To shine forth.
- jetty v. i.
- To jut out; to project. Florio.
- tress n.
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. Se]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song of Pitcairn's Island 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 Song of Pitcairn's Island, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/a-song-of-pitcairn-s-island.html, id L07288.
Form and metre
A Song of Pitcairn's Island is 45 lines in 5 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCBDD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCBDD goA · doorB · blowA · shoreB · eyesC · liesC · yoreB · earD · hearD
- 2 ABABCCBDD repeatA · teachB · sweetA · speechB · knowC · agoC · beachB · thineD · signD
- 3 ABABCCBDD praiseA · jetB · gazeA · yetB · wearC · hairC · metB · cheekD · speakD
- 4 ABABCCBDD meA · tellB · seaA · shellB · dressC · tressC · wellB · braidD · maidD
- 5 ABABCCBDD callsA · hoursB · wallsA · flowersB · prayerC · fairC · oursB · meD · seaD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come take our boy, and we will go | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Before our cabin door; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The winds shall bring us, as they blow, | 8 | ········ |
| The murmurs of the shore; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And we will kiss his young blue eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| And I will sing him, as he lies, | 8 | ········ |
| Songs that were made of yore: | 6 | ······ |
| I'll sing, in his delighted ear, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The island lays thou lov'st to hear. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And thou, while stammering I repeat, | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| Thy country's tongue shalt teach; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'Tis not so soft, but far more sweet | 8 | ········ |
| Than my own native speech: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For thou no other tongue didst know, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When, scarcely twenty moons ago, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Upon Tahete's beach, | 5 | ····· |
| Thou cam'st to woo me to be thine, | 8 | ········ |
| With many a speaking look and sign. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| I knew thy meaning--thou didst praise | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My eyes, my locks of jet; | 6 | ······ |
| Ah! well for me they won thy gaze,-- | 8 | ········ |
| But thine were fairer yet! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I'm glad to see my infant wear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy soft blue eyes and sunny hair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when my sight is met | 6 | ······ |
| By his white brow and blooming cheek, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I feel a joy I cannot speak. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come talk of Europe's maids with me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whose necks and cheeks, they tell, | 6 | ······ |
| Outshine the beauty of the sea, | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| White foam and crimson shell. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I'll shape like theirs my simple dress, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And bind like them each jetty tress, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A sight to please thee well: | 6 | ······ |
| And for my dusky brow will braid | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A bonnet like an English maid. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Come, for the low sunlight calls, | 7 | ····/·· |
| We lose the pleasant hours; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| 'Tis lovelier than these cottage walls,-- | 9 | ······/˘· |
| That seat among the flowers. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And I will learn of thee a prayer, | 8 | ········ |
| To Him who gave a home so fair, | 8 | ········ |
| A lot so blest as ours-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The God who made, for thee and me, | 8 | ········ |
| This sweet lone isle amid the sea. | 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.