Ireland
Heartsome Ireland, winsome Ireland,Charmer of the sun and sea,Bright beguiler of old anguish,How could Famine frown on thee?
As our Gulf-Stream, drawn to thee-ward,Turns him from his northward flow,And our wintry western headlandsSend thee summer from their snow,
Thus the main and cordial currentOf our love sets over sea, --Tender, comely, valiant Ireland,Songful, soulful, sorrowful Ireland, --Streaming warm to comfort thee.
Words in this poem
- heartsome a.
- Merry; cheerful; lively.
- winsome a.
- Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. [AS. wynsum, fr. wynn joy; akin to OS. wunnia, OHG. wunna, wunni, G. wonne, Goth. wunan to rejoice (in unwunands sad), AS. wunian to dwell. Win, v. t., Wont, a.]
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
- beguiler n.
- One who, or that which, beguiles.
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- northward a.
- Toward the north; nearer to the north than to the east or west point. [AS. noredhweard.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- songful a.
- Disposed to sing; full of song.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ireland is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Sidney Lanier, Project Gutenberg ebook #579; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sidney Lanier, Ireland, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/ireland.html, id L07654.
Form and metre
Ireland is 13 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ireland · seaA · anguish · theeA
- 2 -A-A ward · flowA · headlands · snowA
- 3 -ABBA current · seaA · irelandB · irelandB · theeA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Heartsome Ireland, winsome Ireland, | 10 | /˘/˘˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Charmer of the sun and sea, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Bright beguiler of old anguish, | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| How could Famine frown on thee? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| As our Gulf-Stream, drawn to thee-ward, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Turns him from his northward flow, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And our wintry western headlands | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Send thee summer from their snow, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thus the main and cordial current | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Of our love sets over sea, -- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Tender, comely, valiant Ireland, | 9 | /˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Songful, soulful, sorrowful Ireland, -- | 10 | /˘/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Streaming warm to comfort thee. | 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.