The Brave Roland
The brave Roland!—the brave Roland!—False tidings reached the Rhenish strandThat he had fallen in fight;And thy faithful, bosom swooned with pain,O loveliest maiden of Allémayne!For the loss of thine own true knight.
But why so rash has she ta’en the veil,In yon Nonnenwerder’s cloisters pale?For her vow had scarce been sworn,And the fatal mantle o’er her flung,When the Drachenfells to a trumpet rung—’Twas her own dear warrior’s horn!
Woe! woe! each heart shall bleed—shall break!She would have hung upon his neck,Had he come but yester-even;And he had clasped those peerless charmsThat shall never, never fill his arms,Or meet him but in heaven.
Yet Roland the brave—Roland the true—He could not bid that spot adieu;It was dear still ’midst his woes;For he loved to breathe the neighbouring air,And to think she blessed him in her prayer,When the Halleluiah rose.
There’s yet one window of that pile,Which he built above the Nun’s green isle;Thence sad and oft looked he(When the chant and organ sounded slow)On the mansion of his love below,For herself he might not see.
She died!—He sought the battle plain;Her image filled his dying brain,When he fell and wished to fall:And her name was in his latest sigh,When Roland, the flower of chivalry,Expired at Roncevall.
Words in this poem
- rhenish a.
- Of or pertaining to the river Rhine; as, Rhenish wine. [L. Rhenus the Rhine.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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]
- 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,]
- neighbouring a.
- Living or being near; adjacent; as, the neighboring nations or countries.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Brave Roland 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, The Brave Roland, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/the-brave-roland.html, id L24414.
Form and metre
The Brave Roland is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 AAB--B rolandA · strandA · fightB · pain · allémayne · knightB
- 2 AABCCB veilA · paleA · swornB · flungC · rungC · hornB
- 3 ---AA- break · neck · even · charmsA · armsA · heaven
- 4 AABCCB trueA · adieuA · woesB · airC · prayerC · roseB
- 5 AABCCB pileA · isleA · heB · slowC · belowC · seeB
- 6 AAB--B plainA · brainA · fallB · sigh · chivalry · roncevallB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The brave Roland!—the brave Roland!— | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| False tidings reached the Rhenish strand | 9 | ·/˘·˘·/˘· |
| That he had fallen in fight; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And thy faithful, bosom swooned with pain, | 10 | ··/˘/˘·˘·· |
| O loveliest maiden of Allémayne! | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| For the loss of thine own true knight. | 8 | ········ |
| But why so rash has she ta’en the veil, | 9 | ········· |
| In yon Nonnenwerder’s cloisters pale? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| For her vow had scarce been sworn, | 7 | ······· |
| And the fatal mantle o’er her flung, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| When the Drachenfells to a trumpet rung— | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| ’Twas her own dear warrior’s horn! | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Woe! woe! each heart shall bleed—shall break! | 8 | ········ |
| She would have hung upon his neck, | 8 | ········ |
| Had he come but yester-even; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And he had clasped those peerless charms | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| That shall never, never fill his arms, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Or meet him but in heaven. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yet Roland the brave—Roland the true— | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| He could not bid that spot adieu; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| It was dear still ’midst his woes; | 7 | ······· |
| For he loved to breathe the neighbouring air, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| And to think she blessed him in her prayer, | 10 | ·····˘···· |
| When the Halleluiah rose. | 6 | ······ |
| There’s yet one window of that pile, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which he built above the Nun’s green isle; | 9 | ········· |
| Thence sad and oft looked he | 6 | ······ |
| (When the chant and organ sounded slow) | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| On the mansion of his love below, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For herself he might not see. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| She died!—He sought the battle plain; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her image filled his dying brain, | 9 | ·/˘·˘·/˘· |
| When he fell and wished to fall: | 7 | ······· |
| And her name was in his latest sigh, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| When Roland, the flower of chivalry, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Expired at Roncevall. | 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.