The Song of the Fairies
When they made the road across the bog of Lamrach forMider, their King.
Pile on the soil; thrust on the soil:Red are the oxen around who toil:Heavy the troops that my words obey;Heavy they seem, and yet men are they.Strongly, as piles, are the tree-trunks placed:Red are the wattles above them laced:Tired are your hands, and your glances slant;One woman's winning this toil may grant!
Oxen ye are, but revenge shall see;Men who are white shall your servants be;Rushes from Teffa are cleared away;Grief is the price that the man shall pay:Stones have been cleared from the rough Meath ground;Where shall the gain or the harm be found?Thrust it in hand! Force it in hand!Nobles this night, as an ox-troop, stand;Hard is the task that is asked, and whoFrom the bridging of Lamrach shall gain, or rue?
Words in this poem
- laced a.
- Fastened with a lace or laces; decorated with narrow strips or braid. See Lace, v. t.
- 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,]
- meath n.
- A sweet liquor; mead. Chaucer. [See Mead.]
- bridging n.
- The system of bracing used between floor or other timbers to distribute the weight. Bridging joist. Same as Binding joist.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of the Fairies 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 Song of the Fairies, in The Poem-Book of the Gael (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #46917, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hull-gael/the-song-of-the-fairies.html, id L11673.
Form and metre
The Song of the Fairies is 20 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDD soilA · toilA · obeyB · theyB · placedC · lacedC · slantD · grantD
- 3 AABBCCDDEE seeA · beA · awayB · payB · groundC · foundC · handD · standD · whoE · rueE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When they made the road across the bog of Lamrach for | 13 | ·····˘/······ |
| Mider, their King. | 4 | ···· |
| Pile on the soil; thrust on the soil: | 8 | ········ |
| Red are the oxen around who toil: | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Heavy the troops that my words obey; | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Heavy they seem, and yet men are they. | 9 | /˘······· |
| Strongly, as piles, are the tree-trunks placed: | 9 | /˘······· |
| Red are the wattles above them laced: | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Tired are your hands, and your glances slant; | 9 | /·····/˘· |
| One woman's winning this toil may grant! | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Oxen ye are, but revenge shall see; | 9 | /˘···˘/·· |
| Men who are white shall your servants be; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Rushes from Teffa are cleared away; | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Grief is the price that the man shall pay: | 9 | ········· |
| Stones have been cleared from the rough Meath ground; | 9 | ········· |
| Where shall the gain or the harm be found? | 9 | ········· |
| Thrust it in hand! Force it in hand! | 8 | ········ |
| Nobles this night, as an ox-troop, stand; | 9 | /˘······· |
| Hard is the task that is asked, and who | 9 | ········· |
| From the bridging of Lamrach shall gain, or rue? | 11 | ··/˘······· |
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.