Chaulieu
Thou grot, whence flows this limpid spring,Its margin fringed with moss and flowers,Still bid its voice of murmurs bringPeace to my musing hours.
Sweet Fontenay! where first for meThe dayspring of existence rose,Soon shall my dust return to thee,And midst my sires repose.
Muses! that watch’d my childhood’s morn,Midst these wild haunts, with guardian eye--Fair trees! that here beheld me born,Soon shall ye see me die.
Words in this poem
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
- 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,]
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chaulieu is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Chaulieu, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/chaulieu.html, id L13464.
Form and metre
Chaulieu is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB springA · flowersB · bringA · hoursB
- 2 ABAB meA · roseB · theeA · reposeB
- 3 ABAB mornA · eyeB · bornA · dieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou grot, whence flows this limpid spring, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its margin fringed with moss and flowers, | 10 | ·/˘·˘···/˘ |
| Still bid its voice of murmurs bring | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Peace to my musing hours. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Sweet Fontenay! where first for me | 8 | ········ |
| The dayspring of existence rose, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Soon shall my dust return to thee, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And midst my sires repose. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Muses! that watch’d my childhood’s morn, | 8 | /˘···/·· |
| Midst these wild haunts, with guardian eye-- | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Fair trees! that here beheld me born, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Soon shall ye see me die. | 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.