Song
Drink ye to her that each loves best.And if you nurse a flameThat’s told but to her mutual breast,We will not ask her name.
Enough, while memory tranced and gladPaints silently the fair,That each should dream of joys he’s had,Or yet may hope to share.
Yet far, far hence be jest or boastFrom hallowed thoughts so dear;But drink to them that we love most,As they would love to hear.
When Napoleon was flyingFrom the field of Waterloo,A British soldier dyingTo his brother bade adieu!
“And take,” he said, “this tokenTo the maid that owns my faith,With the words that I have spokenIn affection’s latest breath.”
Sore mourned the brother’s heart,When the youth beside him fell;But the trumpet warned to part,And they took a sad farewell.
There was many a friend to lose him,For that gallant soldier sighed;But the maiden of his bosomWept when all their tears were dried.
Words in this poem
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- napoleon n.
- A French gold coin of twenty francs, or about $3.86. [From the Emperor Napoleon 1.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
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.html, id L24428.
Form and metre
Song is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 bestA · flameB · breastA · nameB
- 2 ABAB gladA · fairB · hadA · shareB
- 3 ABAB boastA · dearB · mostA · hearB
- 4 ABAB flyingA · waterlooB · dyingA · adieuB
- 5 A-A- tokenA · faith · spokenA · breath
- 6 ABAB heartA · fellB · partA · farewellB
- 7 ABAB himA · sighedB · bosomA · driedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drink ye to her that each loves best. | 8 | ········ |
| And if you nurse a flame | 6 | ······ |
| That’s told but to her mutual breast, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| We will not ask her name. | 6 | ······ |
| Enough, while memory tranced and glad | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘·˘·· |
| Paints silently the fair, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| That each should dream of joys he’s had, | 8 | ········ |
| Or yet may hope to share. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet far, far hence be jest or boast | 8 | ········ |
| From hallowed thoughts so dear; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But drink to them that we love most, | 8 | ········ |
| As they would love to hear. | 6 | ······ |
| When Napoleon was flying | 8 | ·˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| From the field of Waterloo, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A British soldier dying | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| To his brother bade adieu! | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| “And take,” he said, “this token | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To the maid that owns my faith, | 7 | ······· |
| With the words that I have spoken | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In affection’s latest breath.” | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Sore mourned the brother’s heart, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When the youth beside him fell; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| But the trumpet warned to part, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And they took a sad farewell. | 7 | ······/ |
| There was many a friend to lose him, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For that gallant soldier sighed; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| But the maiden of his bosom | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Wept when all their tears were dried. | 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.