The Song
Hush, ah hush! the sea is kind!Lullaby is in the wind;Grief the babe forgets to weep,Lapped and spelled and laid to sleep:His lip is wet with the milk of the spray;He shall not wake till another day.Ah hush! the sea is kind!
Who can tell, ah who can tell,The cradling nurse’s croonèd spell?While the slumber-web she weavesNever nursling stirs or grieves:The tears that drowned his sweet eye-beamsAre turned to mists of rainbow dreams.Ah hush! she charms us well!
“All thy hurts I balm and bind;All thy heart’s loves thou shalt find!”Yea, this she murmurs, best of all:“It was not loss that did befall!All thy joys are put away;They shall be thine another day!”Ah hush! the sea is kind!
She sang; she trembled like a lyre;Her pure eyes burned with azure fire;About her lucent brow the hairPlayed like light flames divine ones wear:The maid was very fair.But when she saw he gave no heed,--Close-mantled up in ancient painAs in some sad-wound weed,Dumb as a shape of stone,Being years past all moan,--She tried no other strain,But softly spake: “Most royal sir!”He raised his head and looked at her.So might a castaway, half dead,Lift up his haggard head,Waked by the swirl of sudden rain,A cool, unhoped-for grace,Against his tearless face:And see, with happy-crazèd mind,Upon his raft a Bright One stand,--His love of youth, her grave long left behindIn some sweet-watered land.
Words in this poem
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- 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,]
- cradling n.
- The act of using a cradle.
- nursling n.
- One who, or that which, is nursed; an infant; a fondling. [Nurse + -ling.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- lucent a.
- Shining; bright; resplendent. [L. lucens, p. pr. of lucere to shine, fr. lux, lucis, light.]
- castaway n.
- One who, or that which, is cast away or shipwrecked.
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- swirl v. t.
- To whirl, or cause to whirl, as in an eddy. [Akin to Norw. svirla to whirl, freq. of sverra to whirl, Dan. svirre, G. schwirren to whiz, to buzz. *177. See Swarm, n.]
- tearless a.
- Shedding no tears; free from tears; unfeeling.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from A chant of love for England, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #71425; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Gray Cone, The Song, in A Chant of Love for England, and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71425, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cone-chant-for-england/the-song.html, id L22076.
Form and metre
The Song is 43 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCA, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See 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 AABBCCA kindA · windA · weepB · sleepB · sprayC · dayC · kindA
- 2 AABBCCA tellA · spellA · weavesB · grievesB · beamsC · dreamsC · wellA
- 3 AABBCCA bindA · findA · allB · befallB · awayC · dayC · kindA
- 4 AABBBCDCEEDFFGGDHHIJIJ lyreA · fireA · hairB · wearB · fairB · heedC · painD · weedC · stoneE · moanE · strainD · sirF · herF · deadG · headG · rainD · graceH · faceH · mindI · standJ · behindI · landJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hush, ah hush! the sea is kind! | 7 | ······· |
| Lullaby is in the wind; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Grief the babe forgets to weep, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Lapped and spelled and laid to sleep: | 7 | ······· |
| His lip is wet with the milk of the spray; | 10 | ·········· |
| He shall not wake till another day. | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Ah hush! the sea is kind! | 6 | ······ |
| Who can tell, ah who can tell, | 7 | ······· |
| The cradling nurse’s croonèd spell? | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| While the slumber-web she weaves | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Never nursling stirs or grieves: | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| The tears that drowned his sweet eye-beams | 8 | ········ |
| Are turned to mists of rainbow dreams. | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Ah hush! she charms us well! | 6 | ······ |
| “All thy hurts I balm and bind; | 7 | ······· |
| All thy heart’s loves thou shalt find!” | 7 | ······· |
| Yea, this she murmurs, best of all: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| “It was not loss that did befall! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| All thy joys are put away; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| They shall be thine another day!” | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Ah hush! the sea is kind! | 6 | ······ |
| She sang; she trembled like a lyre; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her pure eyes burned with azure fire; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| About her lucent brow the hair | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Played like light flames divine ones wear: | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The maid was very fair. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But when she saw he gave no heed,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Close-mantled up in ancient pain | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As in some sad-wound weed, | 6 | ······ |
| Dumb as a shape of stone, | 6 | ······ |
| Being years past all moan,-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| She tried no other strain, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But softly spake: “Most royal sir!” | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He raised his head and looked at her. | 8 | ········ |
| So might a castaway, half dead, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Lift up his haggard head, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Waked by the swirl of sudden rain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A cool, unhoped-for grace, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Against his tearless face: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And see, with happy-crazèd mind, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Upon his raft a Bright One stand,-- | 8 | ········ |
| His love of youth, her grave long left behind | 10 | ·········· |
| In some sweet-watered land. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.