Gilderoy
The last, the fatal hour is come,That bears my love from me;I hear the dead note of the drum,I mark the gallows’ tree!
The bell has tolled; it shakes my heart;The trumpet speaks thy name;And must my Gilderoy departTo bear a death of shame?
No bosom trembles for thy doom;No mourner wipes a tear;The gallows’ foot is all thy tomb,The sledge is all thy bier.
Oh, Gilderoy! bethought we thenSo soon, so sad to part,When first in Roslin’s lovely glenYou triumphed o’er my heart?
Your locks they glittered to the sheen,Your hunter garb was trim;And graceful was the ribbon greenThat bound your manly limb!
Ah! little thought I to deploreThose limbs in fetters bound;Or hear, upon the scaffold floor,The midnight hammer sound.
Ye cruel, cruel, that combinedThe guiltless to pursue;My Gilderoy was ever kind,He could not injure you!
A long adieu! but where shall flyThy widow all forlorn,When every mean and cruel eyeRegards my woe with scorn?
Yes! they will mock thy widow’s tears,And hate thine orphan boy;Alas! his infant beauty wearsThe form of Gilderoy.
Then will I seek the dreary moundThat wraps thy mouldering clay,And weep and linger on the ground,And sigh my heart away.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- mourner n.
- One who mourns or is grieved at any misfortune, as the death of a friend.
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- garb n.
- External appearance, as expressive of the feelings or character; looks; fashion or manner, as of speech. [OF. garbe looks, countenance, grace, ornament, fr. OHG. garawi, garwi, ornament, dress. akin to E. gear. See Gear, n.]
- deplore v. t.
- To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over. [L. deplorare; de- + plorare to cry out, wail, lament; prob. akin to pluere to rain, and to E. flow: cf. F. déplorer. Cf. Flow.]
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
- 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,]
- 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]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gilderoy 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, Gilderoy, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/gilderoy.html, id L24420.
Form and metre
Gilderoy is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in 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 comeA · meB · drumA · treeB
- 2 ABAB heartA · nameB · departA · shameB
- 3 ABAB doomA · tearB · tombA · bierB
- 4 ABAB thenA · partB · glenA · heartB
- 5 ABAB sheenA · trimB · greenA · limbB
- 6 ABAB deploreA · boundB · floorA · soundB
- 7 ABAB combinedA · pursueB · kindA · youB
- 8 ABAB flyA · forlornB · eyeA · scornB
- 9 ABAB tearsA · boyB · wearsA · gilderoyB
- 10 ABAB moundA · clayB · groundA · awayB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The last, the fatal hour is come, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| That bears my love from me; | 6 | ······ |
| I hear the dead note of the drum, | 8 | ········ |
| I mark the gallows’ tree! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The bell has tolled; it shakes my heart; | 8 | ········ |
| The trumpet speaks thy name; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And must my Gilderoy depart | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To bear a death of shame? | 6 | ······ |
| No bosom trembles for thy doom; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| No mourner wipes a tear; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The gallows’ foot is all thy tomb, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The sledge is all thy bier. | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, Gilderoy! bethought we then | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| So soon, so sad to part, | 6 | ······ |
| When first in Roslin’s lovely glen | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| You triumphed o’er my heart? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Your locks they glittered to the sheen, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Your hunter garb was trim; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And graceful was the ribbon green | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That bound your manly limb! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Ah! little thought I to deplore | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Those limbs in fetters bound; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Or hear, upon the scaffold floor, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The midnight hammer sound. | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| Ye cruel, cruel, that combined | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The guiltless to pursue; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| My Gilderoy was ever kind, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He could not injure you! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A long adieu! but where shall fly | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Thy widow all forlorn, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| When every mean and cruel eye | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Regards my woe with scorn? | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Yes! they will mock thy widow’s tears, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hate thine orphan boy; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Alas! his infant beauty wears | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| The form of Gilderoy. | 6 | ······ |
| Then will I seek the dreary mound | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That wraps thy mouldering clay, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And weep and linger on the ground, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And sigh my heart away. | 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.