The Fisher Child's Lullaby
The wind is out in its rage to-night,And your father is far at sea.The rime on the window is hard and whiteBut dear, you are near to me.Heave ho, weave low,Waves of the briny deep;Seethe low and breathe low,But sleep you, my little one, sleep, sleep.
The little boat rocks in the cove no more,But the flying sea-gulls wail;I peer through the darkness that wraps the shore,For sight of a home set sail.Heave ho, weave low,Waves of the briny deep;Seethe low and breathe low,But sleep you, my little one, sleep, sleep.
Ay, lad of mine, thy father may dieIn the gale that rides the sea,But we'll not believe it, not you and I,Who mind us of Galilee.Heave ho, weave low,Waves of the briny deep;Seethe low and breathe low,But sleep you, my little one, sleep, sleep.
Words in this poem
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- briny a.
- Of or pertaining to brine, or to the sea; partaking of the nature of brine; salt; as, a briny taste; the briny flood. [From Brine.]
- cove v. t.
- To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fisher Child's Lullaby is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Fisher Child's Lullaby, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-fisher-child-s-lullaby.html, id L00822.
Form and metre
The Fisher Child's Lullaby is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCD nightA · seaB · whiteA · meB · lowC · deepD · lowC · sleepD
- 2 ABABCDCD moreA · wailB · shoreA · sailB · lowC · deepD · lowC · sleepD
- 3 ABABCDCD dieA · seaB · iA · galileeB · lowC · deepD · lowC · sleepD
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The wind is out in its rage to-night, | 9 | ········· |
| And your father is far at sea. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The rime on the window is hard and white | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| But dear, you are near to me. | 7 | ······· |
| Heave ho, weave low, | 4 | ···· |
| Waves of the briny deep; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Seethe low and breathe low, | 5 | ····· |
| But sleep you, my little one, sleep, sleep. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| The little boat rocks in the cove no more, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But the flying sea-gulls wail; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I peer through the darkness that wraps the shore, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| For sight of a home set sail. | 7 | ······· |
| Heave ho, weave low, | 4 | ···· |
| Waves of the briny deep; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Seethe low and breathe low, | 5 | ····· |
| But sleep you, my little one, sleep, sleep. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Ay, lad of mine, thy father may die | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| In the gale that rides the sea, | 7 | ······· |
| But we'll not believe it, not you and I, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Who mind us of Galilee. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Heave ho, weave low, | 4 | ···· |
| Waves of the briny deep; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Seethe low and breathe low, | 5 | ····· |
| But sleep you, my little one, sleep, sleep. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
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.