Fair Helen of Kirkconnel
Hold me upon thy faithful heart,Keep back my flitting breath;’Tis early, early to depart,Beloved!--yet this is death!
Look on me still--let that kind eyeBe the last light I see!Oh! sad it is in spring to die,But yet I die for thee!
For thee, my own!--thy stately headWas never thus to bow:Give tears when with me love hath fled,True love, thou know’st it now!
Oh, the free streams look’d bright, where’erWe in our gladness roved;And the blue skies were very fair,O friend! because we loved.
Farewell!--I bless thee--live thou onWhen this young heart is low!Surely my blood thy life hath won--Clasp me once more--I go!
Words in this poem
- flitting n.
- A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fair Helen of Kirkconnel 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, Fair Helen of Kirkconnel, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/fair-helen-of-kirkconnel.html, id L19685.
Form and metre
Fair Helen of Kirkconnel is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 heartA · breathB · departA · deathB
- 2 ABAB eyeA · seeB · dieA · theeB
- 3 ABAB headA · bowB · fledA · nowB
- 5 ABAB onA · lowB · wonA · goB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hold me upon thy faithful heart, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Keep back my flitting breath; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| ’Tis early, early to depart, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Beloved!--yet this is death! | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Look on me still--let that kind eye | 8 | ········ |
| Be the last light I see! | 6 | ······ |
| Oh! sad it is in spring to die, | 8 | ········ |
| But yet I die for thee! | 6 | ······ |
| For thee, my own!--thy stately head | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was never thus to bow: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Give tears when with me love hath fled, | 8 | ········ |
| True love, thou know’st it now! | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, the free streams look’d bright, where’er | 9 | ······˘˘/ |
| We in our gladness roved; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And the blue skies were very fair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O friend! because we loved. | 6 | ······ |
| Farewell!--I bless thee--live thou on | 8 | ·/······ |
| When this young heart is low! | 6 | ······ |
| Surely my blood thy life hath won-- | 8 | /˘······ |
| Clasp me once more--I go! | 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.