The Song of Mina’s Soldiers
We heard thy name, O Mina!Far through our hills it rang;A sound more strong than tempests,More keen than armour’s clang.
The peasant left his vintage,The shepherd grasp’d the spear--We heard thy name, O Mina!--The mountain-bands are here.
As eagles to the dayspring,As torrents to the sea,From every dark sierraSo rush’d our hearts to thee.
Thy spirit is our banner,Thine eye our beacon-sign,Thy name our trumpet, Mina!--The mountain-bands are thine.
Words in this poem
- mina n.
- An ancient weight or denomination of money, of varying value.
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- clang v. t.
- To strike together so as to produce a ringing metallic sound. [L. clangere; akin to Gr. clank.]
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of Mina’s Soldiers 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 Song of Mina’s Soldiers, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-song-of-mina-s-soldiers.html, id L19635.
Form and metre
The Song of Mina’s Soldiers is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 -A-A mina · rangA · tempests · clangA
- 2 -A-A vintage · spearA · mina · hereA
- 3 -A-A dayspring · seaA · sierra · theeA
- 4 -A-A banner · signA · mina · thineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We heard thy name, O Mina! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Far through our hills it rang; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| A sound more strong than tempests, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| More keen than armour’s clang. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The peasant left his vintage, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The shepherd grasp’d the spear-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| We heard thy name, O Mina! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| --The mountain-bands are here. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As eagles to the dayspring, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| As torrents to the sea, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From every dark sierra | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| So rush’d our hearts to thee. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thy spirit is our banner, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Thine eye our beacon-sign, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Thy name our trumpet, Mina! | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| --The mountain-bands are thine. | 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.