The Turkish Lady
’Twas the hour when rites unholyCalled each Paynim voice to prayer,And the star that faded slowlyLeft to dews the freshened air.
Day her sultry fires had wasted,Calm and sweet the moonlight rose;E’en a captive spirit tastedHalf oblivion of his woes.
Then ’twas from an Emir’s palaceCame an Eastern lady bright:She, in spite of tyrants jealous,Saw and loved an English knight.
“Tell me, captive, why in anguishFoes have dragged thee here to dwell,Where poor Christians as they languishHear no sound of Sabbath bell?”
“’Twas on Transylvania’s Bannat,When the Crescent shone afar,Like a pale disastrous planetO’er the purple tide of war—
“In that day of desolation,Lady, I was captive made;Bleeding for my Christian nationBy the walls of high Belgrade.”
“Captive! could the brightest jewelFrom my turban set thee free?”“Lady no!—the gift were cruel,Ransomed, yet if reft of thee.”
“Say, fair princess! would it grieve theeChristian climes should we behold?”“Nay, bold knight! I would not leave theeWere thy ransom paid in gold!”
Now in heaven’s blue expansionRose the midnight star to view,When to quit her father’s mansionThrice she wept, and bade adieu!
“Fly we then, while none discover!Tyrant barks, in vain ye ride!”Soon at Rhodes the British loverClasped his blooming Eastern bride.
Words in this poem
- unholy a.
- Not holy; unhallowed; not consecrated; hence, profane; wicked; impious.
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- disastrous a.
- Full of unpropitious stellar influences; unpropitious; ill-boding. [Cf. F. désastreux. See Disaster.]
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- 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]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Turkish Lady 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 Turkish Lady, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/the-turkish-lady.html, id L24412.
Form and metre
The Turkish Lady is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 unholyA · prayerB · slowlyA · airB
- 2 ABAB wastedA · roseB · tastedA · woesB
- 3 -A-A palace · brightA · jealous · knightA
- 4 ABAB anguishA · dwellB · languishA · bellB
- 6 ABAB desolationA · madeB · nationA · belgradeB
- 7 ABAB jewelA · freeB · cruelA · theeB
- 8 ABAB theeA · beholdB · theeA · goldB
- 9 ABAB expansionA · viewB · mansionA · adieuB
- 10 ABAB discoverA · rideB · loverA · brideB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ’Twas the hour when rites unholy | 8 | ··/··˘/˘ |
| Called each Paynim voice to prayer, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the star that faded slowly | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Left to dews the freshened air. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Day her sultry fires had wasted, | 8 | ··/˘/·/˘ |
| Calm and sweet the moonlight rose; | 7 | ····/·· |
| E’en a captive spirit tasted | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Half oblivion of his woes. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Then ’twas from an Emir’s palace | 8 | ····˘//˘ |
| Came an Eastern lady bright: | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| She, in spite of tyrants jealous, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Saw and loved an English knight. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| “Tell me, captive, why in anguish | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Foes have dragged thee here to dwell, | 7 | ······· |
| Where poor Christians as they languish | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Hear no sound of Sabbath bell?” | 7 | ····/˘· |
| “’Twas on Transylvania’s Bannat, | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| When the Crescent shone afar, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Like a pale disastrous planet | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| O’er the purple tide of war— | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “In that day of desolation, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Lady, I was captive made; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Bleeding for my Christian nation | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| By the walls of high Belgrade.” | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| “Captive! could the brightest jewel | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| From my turban set thee free?” | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “Lady no!—the gift were cruel, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Ransomed, yet if reft of thee.” | 7 | /˘····· |
| “Say, fair princess! would it grieve thee | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Christian climes should we behold?” | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| “Nay, bold knight! I would not leave thee | 8 | ········ |
| Were thy ransom paid in gold!” | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now in heaven’s blue expansion | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Rose the midnight star to view, | 7 | ··/···· |
| When to quit her father’s mansion | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Thrice she wept, and bade adieu! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| “Fly we then, while none discover! | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Tyrant barks, in vain ye ride!” | 7 | /˘····· |
| Soon at Rhodes the British lover | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Clasped his blooming Eastern bride. | 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.