The Wind Frae the Baltic
Below the wa’s, oot-by Montrose,The tides ca’ up an’ doonAnd mony’s the gallant mairchantmanLies in aside the toon;Oh, it’s fine alang the tidewayThe loupin’ waters rinWhen the wind is frae the Baltic wi’ the brigs comin’ in.
I’d gie the ring upon my handTo hide me frae the seaThat manes by nicht an’ cries by dayThe dule that’s come to me,For I’ll hear nae mair the fit-fa’When hame the brigs may winO’ a man that sailed the Baltic, nor his step comin’ in.
And noo the toon is fair asteer,The weans rin doon the street,And I may turn my face abootAn’ get me hame to greet,There’s sic a joy wi’ a’ fowkMy tears wad be a sin,For the wind is frae the Baltic--an’ the brigs comin’ in.
Words in this poem
- toon n.
- The reddish brown wood of an East Indian tree (Cedrela Toona) closely resembling the Spanish cedar; also. the tree itself. [Hind. tun, tun, Skr. tunna.]
- tideway n.
- Channel in which the tide sets.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wind Frae the Baltic is in the public domain. This text is taken from Bonnie Joann, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #69484; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Violet Jacob, The Wind Frae the Baltic, in Bonnie Joann, and Other Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #69484, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacob-bonnie-joann/the-wind-frae-the-baltic.html, id L21933.
Form and metre
The Wind Frae the Baltic is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 -A-A--A montrose · doonA · mairchantman · toonA · tideway · rin · inA
- 2 -A-A-BB hand · seaA · day · meA · fa · winB · inB
- 3 -A-A-BB asteer · streetA · aboot · greetA · fowk · sinB · inB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Below the wa’s, oot-by Montrose, | 8 | ······/· |
| The tides ca’ up an’ doon | 6 | ······ |
| And mony’s the gallant mairchantman | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Lies in aside the toon; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Oh, it’s fine alang the tideway | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The loupin’ waters rin | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When the wind is frae the Baltic wi’ the brigs comin’ in. | 14 | ······/˘···/˘· |
| I’d gie the ring upon my hand | 8 | ········ |
| To hide me frae the sea | 6 | ······ |
| That manes by nicht an’ cries by day | 8 | ········ |
| The dule that’s come to me, | 6 | ······ |
| For I’ll hear nae mair the fit-fa’ | 8 | ········ |
| When hame the brigs may win | 6 | ······ |
| O’ a man that sailed the Baltic, nor his step comin’ in. | 14 | ······/˘···/˘· |
| And noo the toon is fair asteer, | 8 | ········ |
| The weans rin doon the street, | 6 | ······ |
| And I may turn my face aboot | 8 | ········ |
| An’ get me hame to greet, | 6 | ······ |
| There’s sic a joy wi’ a’ fowk | 7 | ······· |
| My tears wad be a sin, | 6 | ······ |
| For the wind is frae the Baltic--an’ the brigs comin’ in. | 14 | ······/˘···/˘· |
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.