Song
Earl March looked on his dying child,And smit with grief to view her—“The youth,” he cried, “whom I exiled,Shall be restored to woo her.”
She’s at the window many an hourHis coming to discover;And her love looked up to Ellen’s bower,And she looked on her lover—
But ah! so pale, he knew her not,Though her smile on him was dwelling.“And am I then forgot—forgot?”—It broke the heart of Ellen.
In vain he weeps, in vain he sighs,Her cheek is cold as ashes;Nor love’s own kiss shall wake those eyesTo lift their silken lashes.
Words in this poem
- smit
- 3d. pers. sing. pres. of Smite.
- 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,]
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/song-2.html, id L24430.
Form and metre
Song is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABAB childA · herB · exiledA · herB
- 2 ABAB hourA · discoverB · bowerA · loverB
- 3 A-A- notA · dwelling · forgotA · ellen
- 4 ABAB sighsA · ashesB · eyesA · lashesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earl March looked on his dying child, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And smit with grief to view her— | 7 | ······· |
| “The youth,” he cried, “whom I exiled, | 8 | ······/· |
| Shall be restored to woo her.” | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| She’s at the window many an hour | 9 | ···/˘/·/˘ |
| His coming to discover; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| And her love looked up to Ellen’s bower, | 9 | ······/˘/ |
| And she looked on her lover— | 8 | ···˘··/˘ |
| But ah! so pale, he knew her not, | 8 | ········ |
| Though her smile on him was dwelling. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| “And am I then forgot—forgot?”— | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| It broke the heart of Ellen. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In vain he weeps, in vain he sighs, | 8 | ········ |
| Her cheek is cold as ashes; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Nor love’s own kiss shall wake those eyes | 8 | ········ |
| To lift their silken lashes. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
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.