Anonymous: The Bridge of Death
‘THE dance is on the Bridge of DeathAnd who will dance with me?’‘There’s never a man of living menWill dare to dance with thee.’
Now Margaret’s gone within her bowerPut ashes in her hair,And sackcloth on her bonny breast,And on her shoulders bare.
There came a knock to her bower door,And blithe she let him in;It was her brother from the wars,The dearest of her kin.
‘Set gold within your hair, Margaret,Set gold within your hair,And gold upon your girdle band,And on your breast so fair.
‘For we are bidden to dance to-night,We may not bide away;This one good night, this one fair night,Before the red new day.’
‘Nay, no gold for my head brother,Nay, no gold for my hair;It is the ashes and dust of earthThat you and I must wear.
‘No gold work for my girdle band,No gold work on my feet;But ashes of the fire, my love,But dust that the serpents eat.’
They danced across the bridge of Death,Above the black water,And the marriage-bell was tolled in hellFor the souls of him and her.
Words in this poem
- sackcloth n.
- Linen or cotton cloth such a sacks are made of; coarse cloth; anciently, a cloth or garment worn in mourning, distress, mortification, or penitence.
- 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.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Anonymous: The Bridge of Death is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Anonymous: The Bridge of Death, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/the-bridge-of-death.html, id L26916.
Form and metre
Anonymous: The Bridge of Death is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 death · meA · men · theeA
- 2 -A-A bower · hairA · breast · bareA
- 3 -A-A door · inA · wars · kinA
- 4 -A-A margaret · hairA · band · fairA
- 5 ABAB nightA · awayB · nightA · dayB
- 6 -A-A brother · hairA · earth · wearA
- 7 -A-A band · feetA · love · eatA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ‘THE dance is on the Bridge of Death | 8 | ········ |
| And who will dance with me?’ | 6 | ······ |
| ‘There’s never a man of living men | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Will dare to dance with thee.’ | 6 | ······ |
| Now Margaret’s gone within her bower | 8 | ·/˘····/ |
| Put ashes in her hair, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And sackcloth on her bonny breast, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And on her shoulders bare. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There came a knock to her bower door, | 8 | ······/· |
| And blithe she let him in; | 6 | ······ |
| It was her brother from the wars, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The dearest of her kin. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| ‘Set gold within your hair, Margaret, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Set gold within your hair, | 6 | ······ |
| And gold upon your girdle band, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And on your breast so fair. | 6 | ······ |
| ‘For we are bidden to dance to-night, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| We may not bide away; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| This one good night, this one fair night, | 8 | ········ |
| Before the red new day.’ | 6 | ······ |
| ‘Nay, no gold for my head brother, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Nay, no gold for my hair; | 6 | ······ |
| It is the ashes and dust of earth | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| That you and I must wear. | 6 | ······ |
| ‘No gold work for my girdle band, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No gold work on my feet; | 6 | ······ |
| But ashes of the fire, my love, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| But dust that the serpents eat.’ | 7 | ····/˘· |
| They danced across the bridge of Death, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Above the black water, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| And the marriage-bell was tolled in hell | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For the souls of him and 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.