Lal of Kilrudden
Kilrudden ford, Kilrudden dale,Kilrudden fronting every galeOn the lorn coast of Inishfree,And Lal's last bed the plunging sea.
Lal of Kilrudden with flame-red hair,And the sea-blue eyes that rove and dare,And the open heart with never a care;With her strong brown arms and her ankles bare,God in heaven, but she was fair,That night the storm put in from sea?
The nightingales of Inishkill,The rose that climbed her window-sill,The shade that rustled or was still,The wind that roved and had his will,And one white sail on the low sea-hill,Were all she knew of love.
So when the storm drove in that day,And her lover's ship on the ledges lay,Past help and wrecking in the gray,And the cry was, "Who'll go down the bay,With half of the lifeboat's crew away?"Who should push to the front and say,"I will be one, be others who may,"But Lal of Kilrudden, born at sea!
The nightingales all night in the rain,The rose that fell at her window-pane,The frost that blackened the purple plain,And the scorn of pitiless disdainAt the hands of the wolfish pirate main,Quelling her great hot heart in vain,Were all she knew of death.
Kilrudden ford, Kilrudden dale,Kilrudden ruined in the galeThat wrecked the coast of Inishfree,And Lal's last bed the plunging sea.
Words in this poem
- lorn a.
- Lost; undone; ruined. [Strong p. p. of Lose. See Lose, Forlorn.]
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- wrecking
- a. & n. from Wreck, v. Wrecking car (Railway), a car fitted up with apparatus and implements for removing the wreck occasioned by an accident, as by a collision.
- wolfish a.
- Like a wolf; having the qualities or form of a wolf; as, a wolfish visage; wolfish designs.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lal of Kilrudden is in the public domain. This text is taken from More Songs From Vagabondia, Project Gutenberg ebook #18007; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bliss Carman, Lal of Kilrudden, in More Songs from Vagabondia (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18007, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-vagabondia/lal-of-kilrudden.html, id L24725.
Form and metre
Lal of Kilrudden is 35 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABB daleA · galeA · inishfreeB · seaB
- 2 AAAAA- hairA · dareA · careA · bareA · fairA · sea
- 3 AAAAA- inishkillA · sillA · stillA · willA · hillA · love
- 4 AAAAAAA- dayA · layA · grayA · bayA · awayA · sayA · mayA · sea
- 5 AAAAAA- rainA · paneA · plainA · disdainA · mainA · vainA · death
- 6 AABB daleA · galeA · inishfreeB · seaB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kilrudden ford, Kilrudden dale, | 8 | ········ |
| Kilrudden fronting every gale | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| On the lorn coast of Inishfree, | 8 | ········ |
| And Lal's last bed the plunging sea. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lal of Kilrudden with flame-red hair, | 9 | ········· |
| And the sea-blue eyes that rove and dare, | 9 | ········· |
| And the open heart with never a care; | 9 | ··/˘··/·· |
| With her strong brown arms and her ankles bare, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| God in heaven, but she was fair, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| That night the storm put in from sea? | 8 | ········ |
| The nightingales of Inishkill, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The rose that climbed her window-sill, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The shade that rustled or was still, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The wind that roved and had his will, | 8 | ········ |
| And one white sail on the low sea-hill, | 9 | ········· |
| Were all she knew of love. | 6 | ······ |
| So when the storm drove in that day, | 8 | ········ |
| And her lover's ship on the ledges lay, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Past help and wrecking in the gray, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the cry was, "Who'll go down the bay, | 9 | ········· |
| With half of the lifeboat's crew away?" | 9 | ····/··˘/ |
| Who should push to the front and say, | 8 | ········ |
| "I will be one, be others who may," | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| But Lal of Kilrudden, born at sea! | 9 | ········· |
| The nightingales all night in the rain, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The rose that fell at her window-pane, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The frost that blackened the purple plain, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| And the scorn of pitiless disdain | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| At the hands of the wolfish pirate main, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Quelling her great hot heart in vain, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Were all she knew of death. | 6 | ······ |
| Kilrudden ford, Kilrudden dale, | 8 | ········ |
| Kilrudden ruined in the gale | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That wrecked the coast of Inishfree, | 8 | ········ |
| And Lal's last bed the plunging sea. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.