On a Ruined House in a Romantic Country
And this reft house is that the which he built,Lamented Jack! And here his malt he pil'd,Cautious in vain! These rats that squeak so wild,Squeak, not unconscious of their father's guilt.Did ye not see her gleaming thro' the glade?Belike, 'twas she, the maiden all forlorn.What though she milk no cow with crumpled horn,Yet aye she haunts the dale where erst she stray'd;And aye beside her stalks her amorous knight!Still on his thighs their wonted brogues are worn,And thro' those brogues, still tatter'd and betorn,His hindward charms gleam an unearthly white;As when thro' broken clouds at night's high noonPeeps in fair fragments forth the full--orb'd harvest-moon!
Words in this poem
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- lamented a.
- Mourned for; bewailed.
- squeak v. i.
- To utter a sharp, shrill cry, usually of short duration; to cry with an acute tone, as an animal; or, to make a sharp, disagreeable noise, as a pipe or quill, a wagon wheel, a door; to creak. [Probably of imitative origin; cf. Sw. sqväka to croak, Icel. skvakka to give a sound as of water shaken in a bottle.]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- belike adv.
- It is likely or probably; perhaps. -- Be*like"ly, adv. [Pref. be- (for by) + like.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- brogues n.
- Breeches. Shenstone. [Cf. Breeches.]
- betorn a.
- Torn in pieces; tattered.
- unearthly a.
- Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Ruined House in a Romantic Country is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On a Ruined House in a Romantic Country, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/on-a-ruined-house-in-a-romantic-country.html, id L00382.
Form and metre
On a Ruined House in a Romantic Country is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEDDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBACDDCEDDEFF builtA · pil'dB · wildB · guiltA · gladeC · forlornD · hornD · stray'dC · knightE · wornD · betornD · whiteE · noonF · moonF
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And this reft house is that the which he built, | 10 | ·········· |
| Lamented Jack! And here his malt he pil'd, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Cautious in vain! These rats that squeak so wild, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Squeak, not unconscious of their father's guilt. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Did ye not see her gleaming thro' the glade? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Belike, 'twas she, the maiden all forlorn. | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| What though she milk no cow with crumpled horn, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet aye she haunts the dale where erst she stray'd; | 10 | ·········· |
| And aye beside her stalks her amorous knight! | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Still on his thighs their wonted brogues are worn, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And thro' those brogues, still tatter'd and betorn, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| His hindward charms gleam an unearthly white; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As when thro' broken clouds at night's high noon | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Peeps in fair fragments forth the full--orb'd harvest-moon! | 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.