The Bard’s Farewell
“Thou setting moon! when next thy raysAre trembling on the shadowy deep,The land, now fading from thy gaze,These eyes in vain shall weep;And wander o’er the lonely sea,And fix their tearful glance on thee--On thee! whose light so softly gleamsThrough the green oaks that fringe my native streams.
“But midst those ancient groves, no moreShall I thy quivering lustre hail;Its plaintive strain my harp must pourTo swell a foreign gale.The rocks, the woods, whose echoes wokeWhen its full tones their stillness broke,Deserted now, shall hear aloneThe brook’s wild voice, the wind’s mysterious moan.
“And oh! ye fair, forsaken halls,Left by your lord to slow decay,Soon shall the trophies on your wallsBe mouldering fast away!There shall no choral songs resound,There shall no festal board be crown’d;But ivy wreathe the silent gate,And all be hush’d, and cold, and desolate.
“No banner from the stately towerShall spread its blazon’d folds on high;There the wild brier and summer flower,Unmark’d, shall wave and die.Home of the mighty! thou art lone,The noonday of thy pride is gone,And, midst thy solitude profound,A step shall echo like unearthly sound!
“From thy cold hearths no festal blazeShall fill the hall with ruddy light,Nor welcome with convivial raysSome pilgrim of the night.But there shall grass luxuriant spread,As o’er the dwellings of the dead;And the deep swell of every blastSeem a wild dirge for years of grandeur past.
“And I--my joy of life is fled,My spirit’s power, my bosom’s glow;The raven locks that graced my head,Wave in a wreath of snow!And where the star of youth aroseI deem’d life’s lingering ray should close,And those loved trees my tomb o’ershade,Beneath whose arching bowers my childhood play’d.
“Vain dream! that tomb in distant earthShall rise, forsaken and forgot;And thou, sweet land that gavest me birth!A grave must yield me not.Yet, haply, he for whom I leaveThy shores, in life’s dark winter eve,When cold the hand, and closed the lays,And mute the voice he loved to praise,O’er the hush’d harp one tear may shed,And one frail garland o’er the minstrel’s bed!”
Words in this poem 18
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- 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,]
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- choral a.
- Of or pertaining to a choir or chorus; singing, sung, or adapted to be sung, in chorus or harmony. Choral service, a service of song. [LL. choralis, fr. L. chorus. See Chorus.]
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- blazon v. t.
- To depict in colors; to display; to exhibit conspicuously; to publish or make public far and wide. [From blazon, n.; confused with 4th blaze: cf. F. blasonner.]
- brier n.
- A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- unearthly a.
- Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound.
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- 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.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bard’s Farewell 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, The Bard’s Farewell, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-bard-s-farewell.html, id L19280.
Form and metre
The Bard’s Farewell is 58 lines in 7 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCDD, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCCDD raysA · deepB · gazeA · weepB · seaC · theeC · gleamsD · streamsD
- 2 ABABCCDD moreA · hailB · pourA · galeB · wokeC · brokeC · aloneD · moanD
- 3 ABABCCDD hallsA · decayB · wallsA · awayB · resoundC · crown'dC · gateD · desolateD
- 4 ABAB--CC towerA · highB · flowerA · dieB · lone · gone · profoundC · soundC
- 5 ABABCCDD blazeA · lightB · raysA · nightB · spreadC · deadC · blastD · pastD
- 6 ABABCCDD fledA · glowB · headA · snowB · aroseC · closeC · o'ershadeD · play'dD
- 7 ABABCCDDEE earthA · forgotB · birthA · notB · leaveC · eveC · laysD · praiseD · shedE · bedE
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 setting moon! when next thy rays | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Are trembling on the shadowy deep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The land, now fading from thy gaze, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| These eyes in vain shall weep; | 6 | ······ |
| And wander o’er the lonely sea, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And fix their tearful glance on thee-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On thee! whose light so softly gleams | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through the green oaks that fringe my native streams. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| “But midst those ancient groves, no more | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shall I thy quivering lustre hail; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its plaintive strain my harp must pour | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To swell a foreign gale. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The rocks, the woods, whose echoes woke | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When its full tones their stillness broke, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Deserted now, shall hear alone | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| The brook’s wild voice, the wind’s mysterious moan. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| “And oh! ye fair, forsaken halls, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Left by your lord to slow decay, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Soon shall the trophies on your walls | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Be mouldering fast away! | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| There shall no choral songs resound, | 8 | ···/˘··/ |
| There shall no festal board be crown’d; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But ivy wreathe the silent gate, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And all be hush’d, and cold, and desolate. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| “No banner from the stately tower | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Shall spread its blazon’d folds on high; | 8 | ········ |
| There the wild brier and summer flower, | 9 | ···/·/˘/˘ |
| Unmark’d, shall wave and die. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Home of the mighty! thou art lone, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The noonday of thy pride is gone, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And, midst thy solitude profound, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A step shall echo like unearthly sound! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| “From thy cold hearths no festal blaze | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall fill the hall with ruddy light, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor welcome with convivial rays | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Some pilgrim of the night. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But there shall grass luxuriant spread, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| As o’er the dwellings of the dead; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the deep swell of every blast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Seem a wild dirge for years of grandeur past. | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| “And I--my joy of life is fled, | 8 | ········ |
| My spirit’s power, my bosom’s glow; | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| The raven locks that graced my head, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Wave in a wreath of snow! | 6 | ······ |
| And where the star of youth arose | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I deem’d life’s lingering ray should close, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And those loved trees my tomb o’ershade, | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath whose arching bowers my childhood play’d. | 10 | ···/˘/·/·· |
| “Vain dream! that tomb in distant earth | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall rise, forsaken and forgot; | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| And thou, sweet land that gavest me birth! | 9 | ········· |
| A grave must yield me not. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet, haply, he for whom I leave | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thy shores, in life’s dark winter eve, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When cold the hand, and closed the lays, | 8 | ········ |
| And mute the voice he loved to praise, | 8 | ········ |
| O’er the hush’d harp one tear may shed, | 8 | ········ |
| And one frail garland o’er the minstrel’s bed!” | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
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