The Wife of Usher's Well
"Every time thou weepest for me,Thy heart makest sad,Then all within, my coffin stands fullOf clotted blood."
Rarely is the silence of the grave broken for purposes of consolation.Yet some cases there are, as in a Lithuanian ballad cited byWackernagel, Altd. Blaetter, i. 176, and a Spanish ballad noticed byTalvj, Versuch, p. 141. The present ballad seems to belong to thelatter class rather than the former, but it is so imperfect that itstrue character cannot be determined.
There lived a wife at Usher's Well,And a wealthy wife was she,She had three stout and stalwart sons,And sent them o'er the sea.
They hadna been a week from her,A week but barely ane,When word came to the carline wife,That her three sons were gane.
They hadna been a week from her,A week but barely three,When word came to the carline wife,That her sons she'd never see.
"I wish the wind may never cease,Till my three sons come hame to me,In earthly flesh and blood."--
It fell about the Martinmas,When nights are lang and mirk,The carline wife's three sons came hame,And their hats were o' the birk.
It neither grew in syke nor ditch,Nor yet in ony sheugh;But at the gates o' Paradise,That birk grew fair eneugh.
"Blow up the fire, my maidens!Bring water from the well!For a' my house shall feast this night,Since my three sons are well."--
And she has made to them a bed,She's made it large and wide;And she's ta'en her mantle her about,Sat down at the bed-side.
Up then crew the red red cock,And up and crew the gray;The eldest to the youngest said,"'Tis time we were away."--
The cock he hadna craw'd but once,And clapp'd his wings at a',Whan the youngest to the eldest said,"Brother, we must awa.--
"The cock doth craw, the day doth daw,The channerin' worm doth chide;Gin we be mist out o' our place,A sair pain we maun bide.
"Fare ye weel, my mother dear!Fareweel to barn and byre!And fare ye weel, the bonny lass,That kindles my mother's fire."
Words in this poem
- lithuanian a.
- Of or pertaining to Lithuania (formerly a principality united with Poland, but now Russian and Prussian territory).
- stalwart a.
- Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
- carline n.
- A silver coin once current in some parts of Italy, worth about seven cents. Simmonds. [F. carin; cf. It. carlino; -- so called from Carlo (Charles) VI. of Naples.]
- gane v. i.
- To yawn; to gape. [See Yawn.]
- mirk a.
- Dark; gloomy; murky. Spenser. Mrs. Browning. [See Murky.]
- birk n.
- A small European minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus).
- 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,]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- weel
- A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. Carew. [Prov. E. weel, weal, a wicker basket to catch eels; prob. akin to willow, and so called as made of willow twigs.]
- byre n.
- A cow house. [N. of Eng.& Scot.] [Cf, Icel. bür pantry, Sw. bur cage,Dan. buur, E.bower.]
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wife of Usher's Well is in the public domain. This text is taken from English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I, Project Gutenberg ebook #37031; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Francis James Child, The Wife of Usher's Well, in English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (1857), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37031, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/child-ballads/the-wife-of-usher-s-well.html, id L08596.
Form and metre
The Wife of Usher's Well is 57 lines in 14 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 9% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 -AA--- consolation · byA · byA · the · its · determined
- 3 -A-A well · sheA · sons · seaA
- 4 -A-A her · aneA · wife · ganeA
- 5 -A-A her · threeA · wife · seeA
- 7 -A-A martinmas · mirkA · hame · birkA
- 8 -A-A ditch · sheughA · paradise · eneughA
- 9 -A-A maidens · wellA · night · wellA
- 10 -A-A bed · wideA · about · sideA
- 11 -A-A cock · grayA · said · awayA
- 13 -A-A daw · chideA · place · bideA
- 14 -A-A dear · byreA · lass · fireA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Every time thou weepest for me, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Thy heart makest sad, | 5 | ····· |
| Then all within, my coffin stands full | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Of clotted blood." | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Rarely is the silence of the grave broken for purposes of consolation. | 19 | /˘··/˘···/˘·/˘··˘/˘ |
| Yet some cases there are, as in a Lithuanian ballad cited by | 18 | ··/˘······˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Wackernagel, Altd. Blaetter, i. 176, and a Spanish ballad noticed by | 17 | ··········/˘/˘/˘· |
| Talvj, Versuch, p. 141. The present ballad seems to belong to the | 15 | ·····/˘/˘··˘/·· |
| latter class rather than the former, but it is so imperfect that its | 18 | /˘·/˘··/˘····˘/˘·· |
| true character cannot be determined. | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| There lived a wife at Usher's Well, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And a wealthy wife was she, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| She had three stout and stalwart sons, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sent them o'er the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| They hadna been a week from her, | 8 | ········ |
| A week but barely ane, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When word came to the carline wife, | 8 | ········ |
| That her three sons were gane. | 6 | ······ |
| They hadna been a week from her, | 8 | ········ |
| A week but barely three, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When word came to the carline wife, | 8 | ········ |
| That her sons she'd never see. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "I wish the wind may never cease, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till my three sons come hame to me, | 8 | ········ |
| In earthly flesh and blood."-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It fell about the Martinmas, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| When nights are lang and mirk, | 6 | ······ |
| The carline wife's three sons came hame, | 8 | ········ |
| And their hats were o' the birk. | 7 | ······· |
| It neither grew in syke nor ditch, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor yet in ony sheugh; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But at the gates o' Paradise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That birk grew fair eneugh. | 6 | ······ |
| "Blow up the fire, my maidens! | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Bring water from the well! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For a' my house shall feast this night, | 8 | ········ |
| Since my three sons are well."-- | 6 | ······ |
| And she has made to them a bed, | 8 | ········ |
| She's made it large and wide; | 6 | ······ |
| And she's ta'en her mantle her about, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Sat down at the bed-side. | 6 | ······ |
| Up then crew the red red cock, | 7 | ······· |
| And up and crew the gray; | 6 | ······ |
| The eldest to the youngest said, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "'Tis time we were away."-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The cock he hadna craw'd but once, | 8 | ········ |
| And clapp'd his wings at a', | 6 | ······ |
| Whan the youngest to the eldest said, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| "Brother, we must awa.-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| "The cock doth craw, the day doth daw, | 8 | ········ |
| The channerin' worm doth chide; | 7 | ······· |
| Gin we be mist out o' our place, | 8 | ······/· |
| A sair pain we maun bide. | 6 | ······ |
| "Fare ye weel, my mother dear! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Fareweel to barn and byre! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And fare ye weel, the bonny lass, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That kindles my mother's fire." | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
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