Guerilla Song: Founded on the Story Related of the Spanish Patriot Mina
Oh! forget not the hour when through forest and valeWe return’d with our chief to his dear native halls;Through the woody sierra there sigh’d not a gale,And the moonbeam was bright on his battlement-walls;And nature lay sleeping in calmness and light,Round the home of the valiant, that rose on our sight.
We enter’d that home--all was loneliness round,The stillness, the darkness, the peace of the grave;Not a voice, not a step, bade its echoes resound:Ah, such was the welcome that waited the brave!For the spoilers had pass’d, like the poison-wind’s breath,And the loved of his bosom lay silent in death.
Oh! forget not that hour--let its image be near,In the light of our mirth, in the dreams of our rest,Let its tale awake feelings too deep for a tear,And rouse into vengeance each arm and each breast,Till cloudless the dayspring of liberty shineO’er the plains of the olive and hills of the vine.
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- sierra n.
- A ridge of mountain and craggy rocks, with a serrated or irregular outline; as, the Sierra Nevada. [Sp., properly, a saw, fr. L. serra a saw. See Serrate.]
- moonbeam n.
- A ray of light from the moon.
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Guerilla Song: Founded on the Story Related of the Spanish Patriot Mina 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, Guerilla Song: Founded on the Story Related of the Spanish Patriot Mina, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/guerilla-song-founded-on-the-story-related-of-the-spanish-pa.html, id L13473.
Form and metre
Guerilla Song: Founded on the Story Related of the Spanish Patriot Mina is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.5 syllables. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABABCC valeA · hallsB · galeA · wallsB · lightC · sightC
- 2 ABABCC roundA · graveB · resoundA · braveB · breathC · deathC
- 3 ABABCC nearA · restB · tearA · breastB · shineC · vineC
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! forget not the hour when through forest and vale | 12 | ·˘/··/··/˘·· |
| We return’d with our chief to his dear native halls; | 12 | ·˘/·/····/˘· |
| Through the woody sierra there sigh’d not a gale, | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| And the moonbeam was bright on his battlement-walls; | 11 | ··/·····/˘· |
| And nature lay sleeping in calmness and light, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Round the home of the valiant, that rose on our sight. | 12 | ·····/˘···/· |
| We enter’d that home--all was loneliness round, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The stillness, the darkness, the peace of the grave; | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Not a voice, not a step, bade its echoes resound: | 12 | ········/˘·/ |
| Ah, such was the welcome that waited the brave! | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| For the spoilers had pass’d, like the poison-wind’s breath, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| And the loved of his bosom lay silent in death. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Oh! forget not that hour--let its image be near, | 12 | ·˘/··/··/˘·· |
| In the light of our mirth, in the dreams of our rest, | 12 | ····/·····/· |
| Let its tale awake feelings too deep for a tear, | 12 | ···˘//˘····· |
| And rouse into vengeance each arm and each breast, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Till cloudless the dayspring of liberty shine | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| O’er the plains of the olive and hills of the vine. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
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.