Old English Lullaby
Hush, bonnie, dinna greit;Moder will rocke her sweete,--Balow, my boy!When that his toile ben done,Daddie will come anone,--Hush thee, my lyttel one;Balow, my boy!
Gin thou dost sleepe, perchaunceFayries will come to daunce,--Balow, my boy!Oft hath thy moder seeneMoonlight and mirkland queeneDaunce on thy slumbering een,--Balow, my boy!
Then droned a bomblebeeSaftly this songe to thee:"Balow, my boy!"And a wee heather bell,Pluckt from a fayry dell,Chimed thee this rune hersell:"Balow, my boy!"
Soe, bonnie, dinna greit;Moder doth rock her sweete,--Balow, my boy!Give mee thy lyttel hand,Moder will hold it andLead thee to balow land,--Balow, my boy!
Words in this poem
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- rune n.
- A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of the ancient Norsemen, or Scandinavians; in a wider sense, applied to the letters of the ancient nations of Northern Europe in general. [AS. run a rune, a secret, a mystery; akin to Icel. run, OHG. & Goth. runa a secret, secret colloquy, G. & Dan. rune rune, and probably to Gr. 'ereyna^n to searc]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old English Lullaby is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Old English Lullaby, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/old-english-lullaby.html, id L24624.
Form and metre
Old English Lullaby is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCCB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in dactylic dimeter.
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 --AB-BA greit · sweete · boyA · doneB · anone · oneB · boyA
- 2 AABCCCB perchaunceA · daunceA · boyB · seeneC · queeneC · eenC · boyB
- 3 AABCCCB bomblebeeA · theeA · boyB · bellC · dellC · hersellC · boyB
- 4 --ABBBA greit · sweete · boyA · handB · andB · landB · boyA
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hush, bonnie, dinna greit; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Moder will rocke her sweete,-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| Balow, my boy! | 4 | /˘·· |
| When that his toile ben done, | 7 | ······· |
| Daddie will come anone,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Hush thee, my lyttel one; | 6 | ······ |
| Balow, my boy! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Gin thou dost sleepe, perchaunce | 6 | ······ |
| Fayries will come to daunce,-- | 5 | ····· |
| Balow, my boy! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Oft hath thy moder seene | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Moonlight and mirkland queene | 6 | /····· |
| Daunce on thy slumbering een,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Balow, my boy! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Then droned a bomblebee | 6 | ······ |
| Saftly this songe to thee: | 6 | ······ |
| "Balow, my boy!" | 4 | /˘·· |
| And a wee heather bell, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Pluckt from a fayry dell, | 6 | ······ |
| Chimed thee this rune hersell: | 6 | ······ |
| "Balow, my boy!" | 4 | /˘·· |
| Soe, bonnie, dinna greit; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Moder doth rock her sweete,-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| Balow, my boy! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Give mee thy lyttel hand, | 6 | ······ |
| Moder will hold it and | 6 | /˘···· |
| Lead thee to balow land,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Balow, my boy! | 4 | /˘·· |
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.