The Harper
On the green banks of Shannon, when Sheelah was nigh,No blithe Irish lad was so happy as I;No harp like my own could so cheerily play,And wherever I went was my poor dog Tray.
When at last I was forced from my Sheelah to part,She said (while the sorrow was big at her heart),“Oh! remember your Sheelah when far, far away;And be kind, my dear Pat, to our poor dog Tray.”
Poor dog! he was faithful and kind, to be sure,And he constantly loved me, although I was poor;When the sour-looking folks sent me heartless away,I had always a friend in my poor dog Tray.
When the road was so dark, and the night was so cold,And Pat and his dog were grown weary and old,How snugly we slept in my old coat of grey,And he licked me for kindness—my poor dog Tray.
Though my wallet was scant, I remembered his case,Nor refused my last crust to his pitiful face;But he died at my feet on a cold winter day,And I played a sad lament for my poor dog Tray.
Where now shall I go, poor, forsaken, and blindCan I find one to guide me, so faithful, and kind;To my sweet native village, so far, far away,I can never more return with my poor dog Tray.
Words in this poem
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- cheerily adv.
- In a cheery manner.
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- heartless a.
- Without a heart.
- snugly adv.
- In a snug manner; closely; safely.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Harper 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 Harper, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/the-harper.html, id L24424.
Form and metre
The Harper is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AABB nighA · iA · playB · trayB
- 2 AABB partA · heartA · awayB · trayB
- 3 AABB sureA · poorA · awayB · trayB
- 4 AABB coldA · oldA · greyB · trayB
- 5 AABB caseA · faceA · dayB · trayB
- 6 AABB blindA · kindA · awayB · trayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On the green banks of Shannon, when Sheelah was nigh, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| No blithe Irish lad was so happy as I; | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| No harp like my own could so cheerily play, | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| And wherever I went was my poor dog Tray. | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
| When at last I was forced from my Sheelah to part, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| She said (while the sorrow was big at her heart), | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| “Oh! remember your Sheelah when far, far away; | 12 | ·˘/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| And be kind, my dear Pat, to our poor dog Tray.” | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Poor dog! he was faithful and kind, to be sure, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And he constantly loved me, although I was poor; | 12 | ··/˘˘······· |
| When the sour-looking folks sent me heartless away, | 12 | ··//˘···/˘˘/ |
| I had always a friend in my poor dog Tray. | 11 | ··/········ |
| When the road was so dark, and the night was so cold, | 12 | ············ |
| And Pat and his dog were grown weary and old, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| How snugly we slept in my old coat of grey, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And he licked me for kindness—my poor dog Tray. | 12 | ···˘··/˘···· |
| Though my wallet was scant, I remembered his case, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘·· |
| Nor refused my last crust to his pitiful face; | 12 | ·˘/·····/˘˘· |
| But he died at my feet on a cold winter day, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| And I played a sad lament for my poor dog Tray. | 12 | ·····˘/····· |
| Where now shall I go, poor, forsaken, and blind | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| Can I find one to guide me, so faithful, and kind; | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| To my sweet native village, so far, far away, | 12 | ···/˘/˘···˘/ |
| I can never more return with my poor dog Tray. | 12 | ··/˘·˘/····· |
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.