The Rock Beside the Sea
Oh! tell me not the woods are fairNow Spring is on her way!Well, well I know how brightly thereIn joy the young leaves play;How sweet on winds of morn or eveThe violet’s breath may be;--Yet ask me, woo me not to leaveMy lone rock by the sea.
The wild wave’s thunder on the shore,The curlew’s restless cries,Unto my watching heart are moreThan all earth’s melodies.Come back, my ocean rover! come!There’s but one place for me,Till I can greet thy swift sail home--My lone rock by the sea!
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rock Beside the Sea 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 Rock Beside the Sea, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-rock-beside-the-sea.html, id L19705.
Form and metre
The Rock Beside the Sea is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCDCD fairA · wayB · thereA · playB · eveC · beD · leaveC · seaD
- 2 ABABCDCD shoreA · criesB · moreA · melodiesB · comeC · meD · homeC · seaD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! tell me not the woods are fair | 8 | ········ |
| Now Spring is on her way! | 6 | ······ |
| Well, well I know how brightly there | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In joy the young leaves play; | 6 | ······ |
| How sweet on winds of morn or eve | 8 | ········ |
| The violet’s breath may be;-- | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Yet ask me, woo me not to leave | 8 | ········ |
| My lone rock by the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| The wild wave’s thunder on the shore, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The curlew’s restless cries, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unto my watching heart are more | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than all earth’s melodies. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Come back, my ocean rover! come! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| There’s but one place for me, | 6 | ······ |
| Till I can greet thy swift sail home-- | 8 | ········ |
| My lone rock by the sea! | 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.