Field Flowers
Ye field flowers! the gardens eclipse you ’tis true,Yet, wildings of nature I dote upon you,For ye waft me to summers of old,When the earth teemed around me with faery delight,And when daisies and buttercups gladdened my sight,Like treasures of silver and gold.
I love you for lulling me back into dreamsOf the blue Highland mountains and echoing streams,And of birchen glades breathing their balm,While the deer was seen glancing in sunshine remote,And the deep mellow crush of the wood-pigeon’s note,Made music that sweetened the calm.
Not a pastoral song has a pleasanter tuneThan ye speak to my heart, little wildings of June:Of old ruinous castles ye tell,Where I thought it delightful your beauties to find,When the magic of Nature first breathed on my mind,And your blossoms were part of her spell.
E’en now what affections the violet awakes;What loved little islands twice seen in their lakes,Can the wild water-lily restore;What landscapes I read in the primrose’s looks,And what pictures of pebbled and minnowy brooksIn the vetches that tangled their shore.
Earth’s cultureless buds, to my heart ye were dear,Ere the fever of passion, or ague of fearHad scathed my existence’s bloom;Once I welcome you more in life’s passionless stage,With the visions of youth to revisit my age,And I wish you to grow on my tomb.
Words in this poem
- dote n.
- A marriage portion. See 1st Dot, n. Wyatt. [See Dot dowry.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- birchen a.
- Of or relating to birch.
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- pebbled a.
- Abounding in pebbles. Thomson.
- cultureless a.
- Having no culture.
- passionless a.
- Void of passion; without anger or emotion; not easily excited; calm.
- revisit v. t.
- To visit again.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Field Flowers 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, Field Flowers, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/field-flowers.html, id L24458.
Form and metre
Field Flowers is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABCCB trueA · youA · oldB · delightC · sightC · goldB
- 2 AABCCB dreamsA · streamsA · balmB · remoteC · noteC · calmB
- 3 AABCCB tuneA · juneA · tellB · findC · mindC · spellB
- 4 --ABBA awakes · lakes · restoreA · looksB · brooksB · shoreA
- 5 AABCCB dearA · fearA · bloomB · stageC · ageC · tombB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ye field flowers! the gardens eclipse you ’tis true, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘˘/··· |
| Yet, wildings of nature I dote upon you, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| For ye waft me to summers of old, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| When the earth teemed around me with faery delight, | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| And when daisies and buttercups gladdened my sight, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Like treasures of silver and gold. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| I love you for lulling me back into dreams | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Of the blue Highland mountains and echoing streams, | 12 | ···/˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| And of birchen glades breathing their balm, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| While the deer was seen glancing in sunshine remote, | 12 | ·····/˘·/·˘/ |
| And the deep mellow crush of the wood-pigeon’s note, | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| Made music that sweetened the calm. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Not a pastoral song has a pleasanter tune | 12 | ··/˘˘······· |
| Than ye speak to my heart, little wildings of June: | 12 | ······/˘/˘·· |
| Of old ruinous castles ye tell, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘·· |
| Where I thought it delightful your beauties to find, | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘·· |
| When the magic of Nature first breathed on my mind, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| And your blossoms were part of her spell. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| E’en now what affections the violet awakes; | 12 | ···˘/˘·/˘˘˘/ |
| What loved little islands twice seen in their lakes, | 12 | ··˘/˘/˘····· |
| Can the wild water-lily restore; | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘/ |
| What landscapes I read in the primrose’s looks, | 11 | ·/·····/·˘· |
| And what pictures of pebbled and minnowy brooks | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| In the vetches that tangled their shore. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Earth’s cultureless buds, to my heart ye were dear, | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| Ere the fever of passion, or ague of fear | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Had scathed my existence’s bloom; | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| Once I welcome you more in life’s passionless stage, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘· |
| With the visions of youth to revisit my age, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘·· |
| And I wish you to grow on my tomb. | 9 | ········· |
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.