Fair Ines
O Saw ye not fair Ines?She's gone into the West,To dazzle when the sun is down,And rob the world of rest:She took our daylight with her,The smiles that we love best,With morning blushes on her cheek,And pearls upon her breast.
O turn again, fair Ines,Before the fall of night,For fear the moon should shine alone,And stars unrivall'd bright;And blessed will the lover beThat walks beneath their light,And breathes the love against thy cheekI dare not even write!
Would I had been, fair Ines,That gallant cavalier,Who rode so gaily by thy side,And whisper'd thee so near!Were there no bonny dames at home,Or no true lovers here,That he should cross the seas to winThe dearest of the dear?
I saw thee, lovely Ines,Descend along the shore,With bands of noble gentlemen,And banners waved before;And gentle youth and maidens gay,And snowy plumes they wore;It would have been a beauteous dream,--If it had been no more!
Alas, alas, fair Ines,She went away with song,With Music waiting on her steps,And shoutings of the throng;But some were sad, and felt no mirth,But only Musics wrong,In sounds that sang Farewell, Farewell,To her you've loved so long.
Farewell, farewell, fair Ines,That vessel never boreSo fair a lady on its deck,Nor danced so light before,--Alas, for pleasure on the sea,And sorrow on the shore!The smile that blest one lover's heartHas broken many more!
Words in this poem
- dazzle v. t.
- To overpower with light; to confuse the sight of by brilliance of light. [Freq. of daze.]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- cavalier n.
- A military man serving on horseback; a knight. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Cavallier, Caballine.]
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fair Ines is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, Fair Ines, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/fair-ines.html, id L20054.
Form and metre
Fair Ines is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-A-A ines · westA · down · restA · her · bestA · cheek · breastA
- 2 -A-A-A-A ines · nightA · alone · brightA · be · lightA · cheek · writeA
- 3 -A-A-A-A ines · cavalierA · side · nearA · home · hereA · win · dearA
- 4 -A-A-A-A ines · shoreA · gentlemen · beforeA · gay · woreA · dream · moreA
- 5 -A-A-A-A ines · songA · steps · throngA · mirth · wrongA · farewell · longA
- 6 -A-A-A-A ines · boreA · deck · beforeA · sea · shoreA · heart · moreA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Saw ye not fair Ines? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| She's gone into the West, | 6 | ······ |
| To dazzle when the sun is down, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And rob the world of rest: | 6 | ······ |
| She took our daylight with her, | 7 | ··//··· |
| The smiles that we love best, | 6 | ······ |
| With morning blushes on her cheek, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And pearls upon her breast. | 6 | ······ |
| O turn again, fair Ines, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Before the fall of night, | 6 | ······ |
| For fear the moon should shine alone, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And stars unrivall'd bright; | 6 | ······ |
| And blessed will the lover be | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That walks beneath their light, | 6 | ······ |
| And breathes the love against thy cheek | 8 | ········ |
| I dare not even write! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Would I had been, fair Ines, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That gallant cavalier, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Who rode so gaily by thy side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And whisper'd thee so near! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Were there no bonny dames at home, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or no true lovers here, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That he should cross the seas to win | 8 | ········ |
| The dearest of the dear? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I saw thee, lovely Ines, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Descend along the shore, | 6 | ˘/˘/·· |
| With bands of noble gentlemen, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And banners waved before; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And gentle youth and maidens gay, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And snowy plumes they wore; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It would have been a beauteous dream, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| --If it had been no more! | 6 | ······ |
| Alas, alas, fair Ines, | 7 | ˘/˘/·/˘ |
| She went away with song, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| With Music waiting on her steps, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And shoutings of the throng; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But some were sad, and felt no mirth, | 8 | ········ |
| But only Musics wrong, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| In sounds that sang Farewell, Farewell, | 8 | ·····/·/ |
| To her you've loved so long. | 6 | ······ |
| Farewell, farewell, fair Ines, | 7 | ·/·/·/˘ |
| That vessel never bore | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| So fair a lady on its deck, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor danced so light before,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Alas, for pleasure on the sea, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And sorrow on the shore! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The smile that blest one lover's heart | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Has broken many more! | 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.