The Lamentation of Fand When She Is About to Leave Cuchulain
It is I who must go on this journey,Ou great necessity were best for me;Though another should have an equal fameHappier for me could I remain.
Happier it were for me to be here,Subject to thee without reproach,Than to go,--though strange it may seem to thee,--To the royal seat of Aed Abrat.
The man is thine, O Emer,He has broken from me, O noble wife,No less, the thing that my hand cannot reach,I am fated to desire it.
Many men were seeking meBoth in shelters and in secret places;My tryst was never made with them,Because I myself was high-minded.
Joyless she who gives love to oneWho does not heed her love;It were better for her to be destroyedIf she be not loved as she loves.
With fifty women hast thou come hither,Noble Emer, of the yellow locks,To overthrow Fand, it were not wellTo kill her in her misery.
Three times fifty have I there,--Beautiful, marriageable women,--Together with me in the fort:They will not abandon me.
Words in this poem
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lamentation of Fand When She Is About to Leave Cuchulain 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 Lamentation of Fand When She Is About to Leave Cuchulain, in The Poem-Book of the Gael (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #46917, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hull-gael/the-lamentation-of-fand-when-she-is-about-to-leave-cuchulain.html, id L11671.
Form and metre
The Lamentation of Fand When She Is About to Leave Cuchulain is 28 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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.
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It is I who must go on this journey, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Ou great necessity were best for me; | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Though another should have an equal fame | 10 | ·˘/˘···/˘· |
| Happier for me could I remain. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Happier it were for me to be here, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Subject to thee without reproach, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Than to go,--though strange it may seem to thee,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| To the royal seat of Aed Abrat. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| The man is thine, O Emer, | 7 | ······· |
| He has broken from me, O noble wife, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| No less, the thing that my hand cannot reach, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I am fated to desire it. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Many men were seeking me | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Both in shelters and in secret places; | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| My tryst was never made with them, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Because I myself was high-minded. | 9 | ····/··/˘ |
| Joyless she who gives love to one | 8 | /˘······ |
| Who does not heed her love; | 6 | ······ |
| It were better for her to be destroyed | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| If she be not loved as she loves. | 8 | ········ |
| With fifty women hast thou come hither, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/˘ |
| Noble Emer, of the yellow locks, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| To overthrow Fand, it were not well | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| To kill her in her misery. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Three times fifty have I there, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| --Beautiful, marriageable women,-- | 9 | /˘˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Together with me in the fort: | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| They will not abandon me. | 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.