The Downfall of the Gael
My heart is in woe,And my soul deep in trouble,--For the mighty are low,And abased are the noble.
The Sons of the GaelAre in exile and mourning,Worn, weary, and pale,As spent pilgrims returning;
Or men who, in flightFrom the field of disaster,Beseech the black nightOn their flight to fall faster;
Or seamen aghastWhen their planks gape asunder,And the waves fierce and fastTumble through in hoarse thunder;
Or men whom we seeThat have got their death-omen--Such wretches are weIn the chains of our foemen!
Our courage is fear,Our nobility vileness,Our hope is despair,And our comeliness foulness.
There is mist on our heads,And a cloud chill and hoaryOf black sorrow shedsAn eclipse on our glory.
From Boyne to the LinnHas the mandate been given,That the children of FinnFrom their country be driven.
That the sons of the king--Oh, the treason and malice!--Shall no more ride the ringIn their own native valleys;
No more shall repairWhere the hill foxes tarry,Nor forth to the airFling the hawk at her quarry;
For the plain shall be brokeBy the share of the stranger,And the stone-mason's strokeTell the woods of their danger;
The green hills and shoreBe with white keeps disfigured,And the Moat of RathmoreBe the Saxon churl's haggard!
The land of the lakesShall no more know the prospectOf valleys and brakes--So transform'd is her aspect!
The Gael cannot tell,In the uprooted wild-woodAnd red ridgy dell,The old nurse of his childhood;
The nurse of his youthIs in doubt as she views him,If the wan wretch, in truth,Be the child of her bosom.
We starve by the board,And we thirst amid wassail--For the guest is the lord,And the host is the vassal!
Through the woods let us roam,Through the wastes wild and barren;We are strangers at home!We are exiles in Erin!
And Erin's a barkO'er the wide waters driven!And the tempest howls dark,And her side planks are riven!
And in billows of mightSwell the Saxon before her,--Unite, oh, unite!Or the billows burst o'er her!
Words in this poem
- abased a.
- Lowered; humbled.
- gael n.
- A Celt or the Celts of the Scotch Highlands or of Ireland; now esp., a Scotch Highlander of Celtic origin. [See Gaelic.]
- disaster n.
- An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. [F. désastre; pref. dés- (L. dis-) + astre star, fr. L. astrum; a word of astrological origin. See Aster, Astral, Star.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- finn a.
- A native of Finland; one of the FinnFinns.
- 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,]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- ridgy a.
- Having a ridge or ridges; rising in a ridge.
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- 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.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- erin n.
- An early, and now a poetic, name of Ireland. [Ir. Cf. Aryan.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Downfall of the Gael is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poem-Book of the Gael Translations from Irish Gaelic Poetry into English Prose and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #46917; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Hull, The Downfall of the Gael, in The Poem-Book of the Gael (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #46917, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hull-gael/the-downfall-of-the-gael.html, id L11712.
Form and metre
The Downfall of the Gael is 76 lines in 19 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 11 of its 19 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 30 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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- woeA · trouble · lowA · noble
- 2 A-A- gaelA · mourning · paleA · returning
- 3 ABAB flightA · disasterB · nightA · fasterB
- 4 ABAB aghastA · asunderB · fastA · thunderB
- 5 A-A- seeA · omen · weA · foemen
- 6 ABAB fearA · vilenessB · despairA · foulnessB
- 7 ABAB headsA · hoaryB · shedsA · gloryB
- 8 ABAB linnA · givenB · finnA · drivenB
- 9 A-A- kingA · malice · ringA · valleys
- 10 A-A- repairA · tarry · airA · quarry
- 11 ABAB brokeA · strangerB · strokeA · dangerB
- 12 A-A- shoreA · disfigured · rathmoreA · haggard
- 13 ABAB lakesA · prospectB · brakesA · aspectB
- 14 ABAB tellA · woodB · dellA · childhoodB
- 15 ABAB youthA · himB · truthA · bosomB
- 16 A-A- boardA · wassail · lordA · vassal
- 17 A-A- roamA · barren · homeA · erin
- 18 ABAB barkA · drivenB · darkA · rivenB
- 19 ABAB mightA · herB · uniteA · herB
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My heart is in woe, | 5 | ····· |
| And my soul deep in trouble,-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For the mighty are low, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And abased are the noble. | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| The Sons of the Gael | 5 | ····· |
| Are in exile and mourning, | 7 | ··/··/˘ |
| Worn, weary, and pale, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| As spent pilgrims returning; | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| Or men who, in flight | 5 | ····· |
| From the field of disaster, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Beseech the black night | 5 | ˘/··· |
| On their flight to fall faster; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Or seamen aghast | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| When their planks gape asunder, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And the waves fierce and fast | 6 | ······ |
| Tumble through in hoarse thunder; | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Or men whom we see | 5 | ····· |
| That have got their death-omen-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Such wretches are we | 5 | ····· |
| In the chains of our foemen! | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Our courage is fear, | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Our nobility vileness, | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
| Our hope is despair, | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| And our comeliness foulness. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| There is mist on our heads, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And a cloud chill and hoary | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of black sorrow sheds | 5 | ··/˘· |
| An eclipse on our glory. | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| From Boyne to the Linn | 5 | ····· |
| Has the mandate been given, | 7 | ··/··/˘ |
| That the children of Finn | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| From their country be driven. | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| That the sons of the king-- | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, the treason and malice!-- | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Shall no more ride the ring | 6 | ······ |
| In their own native valleys; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| No more shall repair | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Where the hill foxes tarry, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Nor forth to the air | 5 | ····· |
| Fling the hawk at her quarry; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For the plain shall be broke | 6 | ······ |
| By the share of the stranger, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the stone-mason's stroke | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Tell the woods of their danger; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The green hills and shore | 5 | ····· |
| Be with white keeps disfigured, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| And the Moat of Rathmore | 6 | ······ |
| Be the Saxon churl's haggard! | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| The land of the lakes | 5 | ····· |
| Shall no more know the prospect | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of valleys and brakes-- | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| So transform'd is her aspect! | 7 | ·˘/··/· |
| The Gael cannot tell, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In the uprooted wild-wood | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| And red ridgy dell, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The old nurse of his childhood; | 7 | ·····/· |
| The nurse of his youth | 5 | ····· |
| Is in doubt as she views him, | 7 | ······· |
| If the wan wretch, in truth, | 6 | ······ |
| Be the child of her bosom. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We starve by the board, | 5 | ····· |
| And we thirst amid wassail-- | 7 | ···˘//˘ |
| For the guest is the lord, | 6 | ······ |
| And the host is the vassal! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Through the woods let us roam, | 6 | ······ |
| Through the wastes wild and barren; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We are strangers at home! | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| We are exiles in Erin! | 7 | ··/··/˘ |
| And Erin's a bark | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| O'er the wide waters driven! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And the tempest howls dark, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And her side planks are riven! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And in billows of might | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Swell the Saxon before her,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Unite, oh, unite! | 5 | /··/· |
| Or the billows burst o'er her! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.