The Green Isles of Ocean
Where are they, those green fairy islands, reposingIn sunlight and beauty on ocean’s calm breast?What spirit, the things which are hidden disclosing,Shall point the bright way to their dwellings of rest?
Oh! lovely they rose on the dreams of past ages,The mighty have sought them, undaunted in faith;But the land hath been sad for her warriors and sages,For the guide to those realms of the blessèd is death.
Where are they, the high-minded children of glory,Who steer’d for those distant green spots on the wave?To the winds of the ocean they left their wild story,In the fields of their country they found not a grave.
Perchance they repose where the summer-breeze gathersFrom the flowers of each vale immortality’s breath;But their steps shall be ne’er on the hills of their fathers--For the guide to those realms of the blessèd is death.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- undaunted a.
- Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Green Isles of Ocean 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 Green Isles of Ocean, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-green-isles-of-ocean.html, id L13517.
Form and metre
The Green Isles of Ocean is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 81% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.6 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABAB reposingA · breastB · disclosingA · restB
- 2 A-A- agesA · faith · sagesA · death
- 3 ABAB gloryA · waveB · storyA · graveB
- 4 -A-A gathers · breathA · fathers · deathA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where are they, those green fairy islands, reposing | 12 | ·····/˘/˘/·˘ |
| In sunlight and beauty on ocean’s calm breast? | 11 | ·/··/˘·/˘·· |
| What spirit, the things which are hidden disclosing, | 11 | ·/····/˘˘/˘ |
| Shall point the bright way to their dwellings of rest? | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Oh! lovely they rose on the dreams of past ages, | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| The mighty have sought them, undaunted in faith; | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘·· |
| But the land hath been sad for her warriors and sages, | 13 | ········/˘·/˘ |
| For the guide to those realms of the blessèd is death. | 11 | ··········· |
| Where are they, the high-minded children of glory, | 12 | ·····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Who steer’d for those distant green spots on the wave? | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| To the winds of the ocean they left their wild story, | 12 | ·····/····/˘ |
| In the fields of their country they found not a grave. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Perchance they repose where the summer-breeze gathers | 12 | ˘/·˘/··/˘·/˘ |
| From the flowers of each vale immortality’s breath; | 11 | ··/····˘/˘· |
| But their steps shall be ne’er on the hills of their fathers-- | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| For the guide to those realms of the blessèd is death. | 11 | ··········· |
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.