The Songs of Our Fathers
----“Sing aloudOld songs, the precious music of the heart.”Wordsworth
Sing them upon the sunny hills,When days are long and bright,And the blue gleam of shining rillsIs loveliest to the sight!Sing them along the misty moor,Where ancient hunters roved,And swell them through the torrent’s roar,The songs our fathers loved!--
The songs their souls rejoiced to hearWhen harps were in the hall,And each proud note made lance and spearThrill on the banner’d wall:The songs that through our valleys green,Sent on from age to age,Like his own river’s voice, have beenThe peasant’s heritage.
The reaper sings them when the valeIs fill’d with plumy sheaves;The woodman, by the starlight pale,Cheer’d homeward through the leaves:And unto them the glancing oarsA joyous measure keep,Where the dark rocks that crest our shoresDash back the foaming deep.
So let it be! a light they shedO’er each old fount and grove;A memory of the gentle dead,A lingering spell of love.Murmuring the names of mighty men,They bid our streams roll on,And link high thoughts to every glenWhere valiant deeds were done.
Teach them your children round the hearth,When evening fires burn clear,And in the fields of harvest mirth,And on the hills of deer.So shall each unforgotten word,When far those loved ones roam,Call back the hearts which once it stirr’d,To childhood’s holy home.
The green woods of their native landShall whisper in the strain,The voices of their household bandShall breathe their names again;The heathery heights in vision rise,Where, like the stag, they roved.Sing to your sons those melodies,The songs your fathers loved!
Words in this poem
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- heritage a.
- That which is inherited, or passes from heir to heir; inheritance. [OE. heritage, eritage, OF. heritage, eritage, F. héritage, fr. hériter to inherit, LL. heriditare. See Hereditable.]
- 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.]
- plumy a.
- Covered or adorned with plumes, or as with plumes; feathery.
- woodman n.
- A forest officer appointed to take care of the king's woods; a forester. [Eng.]
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- 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, ]
- 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,]
- 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.]
- heathery a.
- Heathy; abounding in heather; of the nature of heath.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Songs of Our Fathers 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 Songs of Our Fathers, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-songs-of-our-fathers.html, id L19375.
Form and metre
The Songs of Our Fathers is 51 lines in 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.
- 2 ABAB---- hillsA · brightB · rillsA · sightB · moor · roved · roar · loved
- 3 ABAB-C-C hearA · hallB · spearA · wallB · green · ageC · been · heritageC
- 4 ABABCDCD valeA · sheavesB · paleA · leavesB · oarsC · keepD · shoresC · deepD
- 5 A-A-B-B- shedA · grove · deadA · love · menB · on · glenB · done
- 6 -A-ABCBC hearth · clearA · mirth · deerA · wordB · roamC · stirr'dB · homeC
- 7 ABABC-C- landA · strainB · bandA · againB · riseC · roved · melodiesC · loved
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ----“Sing aloud | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Old songs, the precious music of the heart.” | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Wordsworth | 2 | /˘ |
| Sing them upon the sunny hills, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When days are long and bright, | 6 | ······ |
| And the blue gleam of shining rills | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is loveliest to the sight! | 7 | ······· |
| Sing them along the misty moor, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Where ancient hunters roved, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And swell them through the torrent’s roar, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The songs our fathers loved!-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The songs their souls rejoiced to hear | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| When harps were in the hall, | 6 | ······ |
| And each proud note made lance and spear | 8 | ········ |
| Thrill on the banner’d wall: | 6 | ······ |
| The songs that through our valleys green, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Sent on from age to age, | 6 | ······ |
| Like his own river’s voice, have been | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The peasant’s heritage. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| The reaper sings them when the vale | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is fill’d with plumy sheaves; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The woodman, by the starlight pale, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Cheer’d homeward through the leaves: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And unto them the glancing oars | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A joyous measure keep, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Where the dark rocks that crest our shores | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Dash back the foaming deep. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| So let it be! a light they shed | 8 | ········ |
| O’er each old fount and grove; | 6 | ······ |
| A memory of the gentle dead, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| A lingering spell of love. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Murmuring the names of mighty men, | 9 | /˘˘···/˘· |
| They bid our streams roll on, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And link high thoughts to every glen | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Where valiant deeds were done. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Teach them your children round the hearth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When evening fires burn clear, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| And in the fields of harvest mirth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And on the hills of deer. | 6 | ······ |
| So shall each unforgotten word, | 8 | ········ |
| When far those loved ones roam, | 6 | ······ |
| Call back the hearts which once it stirr’d, | 8 | ········ |
| To childhood’s holy home. | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| The green woods of their native land | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall whisper in the strain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The voices of their household band | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Shall breathe their names again; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The heathery heights in vision rise, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Where, like the stag, they roved. | 6 | ······ |
| Sing to your sons those melodies, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The songs your fathers loved! | 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.