Dirge of Wallace
They lighted the tapers at dead of night,And chanted their holiest hymn,But her brow and her bosom were damp with affright,Her eye was all sleepless and dim.
And the lady of Elderslie wept for her lord,When a deathwatch beat in her lonely room,When her curtain had shook of its own accord,And the raven had flapped at her window board,To tell of her warrior’s doom.
Now sing the death-song and loudly prayFor the soul of my knight so dear,And call me a widow this wretched day,Since the warning of God is here.
For a nightmare rides on my strangled sleep—The lord of my bosom is doomed to die;His valorous heart they have wounded deep,And the blood-red tears shall his country weep,For Wallace of Elderslie.
Yet knew not his country that ominous hour,Ere the loud matin bell was rung,That a trumpet of death on an English towerHad the dirge of her champion sung.
When his dungeon light looked dim and redOn the high-born blood of a martyr slain,No anthem was sung at his holy death-bed;No weeping was there when his bosom bled,And his heart was rent in twain.
Oh! it was not thus when his ashen spearWas true to that knight forlorn,And hosts of a thousand were scattered like deer,At the sound of the hunter’s horn!
When he strode o’er the wreck of each well-fought field,With the yellow-haired chiefs of his native land;For his lance was not shivered on helmet or shield,And the sword that seemed fit for archangel to wield,Was light in his terrible hand.
But bleeding and bound though “the Wallace wight,”For his much-loved country die,The bugle ne’er sung to a braver knightThan Wallace of Elderslie.
But the day of his glory shall never depart,His head unentombed shall with glory be palmed,From its blood-streaming altar his spirit shall start;Though the raven has fed on his mouldering heart—A nobler was never embalmed.
Words in this poem 18
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- valorous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting valor; brave; courageous; valiant; intrepid. [Cf. F. valeureux, LL. valorosus.]
- 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,]
- matin n.
- A French mastiff. [F. matin.]
- rung n.
- A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- anthem v. t.
- To celebrate with anthems.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- ashen a.
- Of or pertaining to the ash tree. [See Ash, the tree.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- archangel n.
- A chief angel; one high in the celestial hierarchy. [L. archangelus, Gr. archangel, F. archange. See Arch-, pref., and Angel.]
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- 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,]
- palmed a.
- Having or bearing a palm or palms. Paimed deer (Zoöl.), a stag of full growth, bearing palms. See lst Palm, 4.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dirge of Wallace is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Dirge of Wallace, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/dirge-of-wallace.html, id L24441.
Form and metre
Dirge of Wallace is 45 lines in 10 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 4 of the 10 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in anapaestic common measure.
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 nightA · hymnB · affrightA · dimB
- 2 ABAAB lordA · roomB · accordA · boardA · doomB
- 3 ABAB prayA · dearB · dayA · hereB
- 4 A-AA- sleepA · die · deepA · weepA · elderslie
- 5 ABAB hourA · rungB · towerA · sungB
- 6 ABAAB redA · slainB · bedA · bledA · twainB
- 7 ABAB spearA · forlornB · deerA · hornB
- 8 ABAAB fieldA · landB · shieldA · wieldA · handB
- 9 A-A- wightA · die · knightA · elderslie
- 10 ABAAB departA · palmedB · startA · heartA · embalmedB
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 anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They lighted the tapers at dead of night, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| And chanted their holiest hymn, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| But her brow and her bosom were damp with affright, | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| Her eye was all sleepless and dim. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And the lady of Elderslie wept for her lord, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| When a deathwatch beat in her lonely room, | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| When her curtain had shook of its own accord, | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| And the raven had flapped at her window board, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| To tell of her warrior’s doom. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Now sing the death-song and loudly pray | 9 | ······/˘· |
| For the soul of my knight so dear, | 8 | ········ |
| And call me a widow this wretched day, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Since the warning of God is here. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| For a nightmare rides on my strangled sleep— | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| The lord of my bosom is doomed to die; | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| His valorous heart they have wounded deep, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| And the blood-red tears shall his country weep, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For Wallace of Elderslie. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Yet knew not his country that ominous hour, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘/ |
| Ere the loud matin bell was rung, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That a trumpet of death on an English tower | 11 | ··/˘····/˘/ |
| Had the dirge of her champion sung. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| When his dungeon light looked dim and red | 10 | ··/˘··˘··· |
| On the high-born blood of a martyr slain, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No anthem was sung at his holy death-bed; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| No weeping was there when his bosom bled, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And his heart was rent in twain. | 7 | ······· |
| Oh! it was not thus when his ashen spear | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Was true to that knight forlorn, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And hosts of a thousand were scattered like deer, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| At the sound of the hunter’s horn! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When he strode o’er the wreck of each well-fought field, | 11 | ··········· |
| With the yellow-haired chiefs of his native land; | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| For his lance was not shivered on helmet or shield, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| And the sword that seemed fit for archangel to wield, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Was light in his terrible hand. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| But bleeding and bound though “the Wallace wight,” | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| For his much-loved country die, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The bugle ne’er sung to a braver knight | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Than Wallace of Elderslie. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But the day of his glory shall never depart, | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘/ |
| His head unentombed shall with glory be palmed, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| From its blood-streaming altar his spirit shall start; | 11 | ···/˘/˘·/·· |
| Though the raven has fed on his mouldering heart— | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| A nobler was never embalmed. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
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