The Traveller at the Source of the Nile
In sunset’s light, o’er Afric thrown,A wanderer proudly stoodBeside the well-spring, deep and lone,Of Egypt’s awful flood--The cradle of that mighty birth,So long a hidden thing to earth!
He heard its life’s first murmuring sound,A low mysterious tone--A music sought, but never foundBy kings and warriors gone.He listen’d--and his heart beat high:That was the song of victory!
The rapture of a conqueror’s moodRush’d burning through his frame,--The depths of that green solitudeIts torrents could not tame;Though stillness lay, with eve’s last smile,Round those far fountains of the Nile.
Night came with stars. Across his soulThere swept a sudden change:E’en at the pilgrim’s glorious goal,A shadow dark and strangeBreathed from the thought, so swift to fallO’er triumph’s hour--and is this all?
No more than this! What seem’d it nowFirst by that spring to stand?A thousand streams of lovelier flowBathed his own mountain-land!Whence, far o’er waste and ocean track,Their wild, sweet voices, call’d him back.
They call’d him back to many a glade,His childhood’s haunt of play,Where brightly through the beechen shadeTheir waters glanced away;They call’d him, with their sounding waves,Back to his father’s hills and graves.
But, darkly mingling with the thoughtOf each familiar scene,Rose up a fearful vision, fraughtWith all that lay between--The Arab’s lance, the desert’s gloom,The whirling sands, the red simoom!
Where was the glow of power and pride?The spirit born to roam?His alter’d heart within him diedWith yearnings for his home!All vainly struggling to repressThat gush of painful tenderness.
He wept! The stars of Afric’s heavenBeheld his bursting tears,E’en on that spot where fate had givenThe meed of toiling years!--O Happiness! how far we fleeThine own sweet paths in search of thee!
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- 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.]
- beechen a.
- Consisting, or made, of the wood or bark of the beech; belonging to the beech. [AS. b.]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- simoom n.
- A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind, that blows occasionally in Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains. [Ar. sam, fr. samma to poison. Cf. Samiel.]
- yearnings n.
- The maws, or stomachs, of young calves, used a rennet for curdling milk. [Cf. AS. geirnan, geyrnan, to rum. See 4th Earn.]
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Traveller at the Source of the Nile 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 Traveller at the Source of the Nile, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-traveller-at-the-source-of-the-nile.html, id L19378.
Form and metre
The Traveller at the Source of the Nile is 54 lines in 9 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 6 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCC thrownA · stoodB · loneA · floodB · birthC · earthC
- 2 A-A--- soundA · tone · foundA · gone · high · victory
- 3 ABABCC moodA · frameB · solitudeA · tameB · smileC · nileC
- 4 ABABCC soulA · changeB · goalA · strangeB · fallC · allC
- 5 -A-ABB now · standA · flow · landA · trackB · backB
- 6 ABABCC gladeA · playB · shadeA · awayB · wavesC · gravesC
- 7 ABABCC thoughtA · sceneB · fraughtA · betweenB · gloomC · simoomC
- 8 ABABCC prideA · roamB · diedA · homeB · repressC · tendernessC
- 9 -A-ABB heaven · tearsA · given · yearsA · fleeB · theeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In sunset’s light, o’er Afric thrown, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| A wanderer proudly stood | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Beside the well-spring, deep and lone, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Of Egypt’s awful flood-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The cradle of that mighty birth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So long a hidden thing to earth! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He heard its life’s first murmuring sound, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A low mysterious tone-- | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| A music sought, but never found | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By kings and warriors gone. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| He listen’d--and his heart beat high: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That was the song of victory! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The rapture of a conqueror’s mood | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Rush’d burning through his frame,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The depths of that green solitude | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its torrents could not tame; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Though stillness lay, with eve’s last smile, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Round those far fountains of the Nile. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Night came with stars. Across his soul | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| There swept a sudden change: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| E’en at the pilgrim’s glorious goal, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A shadow dark and strange | 6 | ·/···· |
| Breathed from the thought, so swift to fall | 8 | ········ |
| O’er triumph’s hour--and is this all? | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| No more than this! What seem’d it now | 8 | ········ |
| First by that spring to stand? | 6 | ······ |
| A thousand streams of lovelier flow | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Bathed his own mountain-land! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Whence, far o’er waste and ocean track, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their wild, sweet voices, call’d him back. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They call’d him back to many a glade, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| His childhood’s haunt of play, | 6 | ·/···· |
| Where brightly through the beechen shade | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Their waters glanced away; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| They call’d him, with their sounding waves, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Back to his father’s hills and graves. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But, darkly mingling with the thought | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of each familiar scene, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Rose up a fearful vision, fraught | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With all that lay between-- | 6 | ······ |
| The Arab’s lance, the desert’s gloom, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The whirling sands, the red simoom! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where was the glow of power and pride? | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The spirit born to roam? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His alter’d heart within him died | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With yearnings for his home! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| All vainly struggling to repress | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That gush of painful tenderness. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| He wept! The stars of Afric’s heaven | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Beheld his bursting tears, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| E’en on that spot where fate had given | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The meed of toiling years!-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O Happiness! how far we flee | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Thine own sweet paths in search of thee! | 8 | ········ |
Notes from the edition 1
Notes from The Poems of Felicia Hemans (Project Gutenberg #66785), largely Mrs Hemans's own.
- Stanza 4, line 6 Bruce’s mingled feelings on arriving at the source of the Nile, are thus portrayed by him:--“I was, at that very moment, in possession of what had for many years been the principal object of my ambition and wishes; indifference, which, from the usual infirmity of human nature, follows, at least for a time, complete enjoyment, had taken place of it. The marsh and the fountains of the Nile, upon comparison with the rise of many of our rivers, became now a trifling object in my sight. I remembered that magnificent scene in my own native country, where the Tweed, Clyde, and Annan, rise in one hill. I began, in my sorrow, to treat the inquiry about the source of the Nile as a violent effort of a distempered fancy.”
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