Orkney Lullaby
A moonbeam floateth from the skies,Whispering, "Heigho, my dearie!I would spin a web before your eyes,--A beautiful web of silver light,Wherein is many a wondrous sightOf a radiant garden leagues away,Where the softly tinkling lilies sway,And the snow-white lambkins are at play,--Heigho, my dearie!"
A brownie stealeth from the vineSinging, "Heigho, my dearie!And will you hear this song of mine,--A song of the land of murk and mistWhere bideth the bud the dew hath kist?Then let the moonbeam's web of lightBe spun before thee silvery white,And I shall sing the livelong night,--Heigho, my dearie!"
The night wind speedeth from the sea,Murmuring, "Heigho, my dearie!I bring a mariner's prayer for thee;So let the moonbeam veil thine eyes,And the brownie sing thee lullabies;But I shall rock thee to and fro,Kissing the brow he loveth so,And the prayer shall guard thy bed, I trow,--Heigho, my dearie!"
Words in this poem
- moonbeam n.
- A ray of light from the moon.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- brownie n.
- An imaginary good-natured spirit, who was supposed often to perform important services around the house by night, such as thrashing, churning, sweeping. [So called from its supposed tawny or swarthy color.]
- murk n.
- Darkness; mirk.
- kist n.
- A chest; hence, a coffin. Jamieson. [See Chest.]
- 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,]
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- trow v. i.
- To believe; to trust; to think or suppose. [OE. trowen, AS.treówan to trust, believe, fr. treów trust, treówe true, faithful. See True.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Orkney 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, Orkney Lullaby, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/orkney-lullaby.html, id L24630.
Form and metre
Orkney Lullaby is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABACCDDDB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABACCDDDB skiesA · dearieB · eyesA · lightC · sightC · awayD · swayD · playD · dearieB
- 2 ABACCDDDB vineA · dearieB · mineA · mistC · kistC · lightD · whiteD · nightD · dearieB
- 3 ABACCDDDB seaA · dearieB · theeA · eyesC · lullabiesC · froD · soD · trowD · dearieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A moonbeam floateth from the skies, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Whispering, "Heigho, my dearie! | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| I would spin a web before your eyes,-- | 9 | ········· |
| A beautiful web of silver light, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Wherein is many a wondrous sight | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Of a radiant garden leagues away, | 9 | ··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where the softly tinkling lilies sway, | 9 | ··/˘/˘/˘· |
| And the snow-white lambkins are at play,-- | 9 | ········· |
| Heigho, my dearie!" | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A brownie stealeth from the vine | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Singing, "Heigho, my dearie! | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| And will you hear this song of mine,-- | 8 | ········ |
| A song of the land of murk and mist | 9 | ········· |
| Where bideth the bud the dew hath kist? | 9 | ········· |
| Then let the moonbeam's web of light | 8 | ···/···· |
| Be spun before thee silvery white, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And I shall sing the livelong night,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Heigho, my dearie!" | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The night wind speedeth from the sea, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Murmuring, "Heigho, my dearie! | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| I bring a mariner's prayer for thee; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So let the moonbeam veil thine eyes, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And the brownie sing thee lullabies; | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| But I shall rock thee to and fro, | 8 | ········ |
| Kissing the brow he loveth so, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And the prayer shall guard thy bed, I trow,-- | 9 | ········· |
| Heigho, my dearie!" | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.