Castles in Spain
How much of my young heart, O Spain,Went out to thee in days of yore!What dreams romantic filled my brain,And summoned back to life againThe Paladins of CharlemagneThe Cid Campeador!
And shapes more shadowy than these,In the dim twilight half revealed;Phoenician galleys on the seas,The Roman camps like hives of bees,The Goth uplifting from his kneesPelayo on his shield.
It was these memories perchance,From annals of remotest eld,That lent the colors of romanceTo every trivial circumstance,And changed the form and countenanceOf all that I beheld.
Old towns, whose history lies hidIn monkish chronicle or rhyme,Burgos, the birthplace of the Cid,Zamora and Valladolid,Toledo, built and walled amidThe wars of Wamba's time;
The long, straight line of the high-way,The distant town that seems so near,The peasants in the fields, that stayTheir toil to cross themselves and pray,When from the belfry at middayThe Angelus they hear;
White crosses in the mountain pass,Mules gay with tassels, the loud dinOf muleteers, the tethered assThat crops the dusty wayside grass,And cavaliers with spurs of brassAlighting at the inn;
White hamlets hidden in fields of wheat,White cities slumbering by the sea,White sunshine flooding square and street,Dark mountain-ranges, at whose feetThe river-beds are dry with heat,--All was a dream to me.
Yet something sombre and severeO'er the enchanted landscape reigned;A terror in the atmosphereAs if King Philip listened near,Or Torquemada, the austere,His ghostly sway maintained.
The softer Andalusian skiesDispelled the sadness and the gloom;There Cadiz by the seaside lies,And Seville's orange-orchards rise,Making the land a paradiseOf beauty and of bloom.
There Cordova is hidden amongThe palm, the olive, and the vine;Gem of the South, by poets sung,And in whose Mosque Ahmanzor hungAs lamps the bells that once had rungAt Compostella's shrine.
But over all the rest supreme,The star of stars, the cynosure,The artist's and the poet's theme,The young man's vision, the old man's dream,--Granada by its winding stream,The city of the Moor!
And there the Alhambra still recallsAladdin's palace of delight;Allah il Allah! through its hallsWhispers the fountain as it falls,The Darro darts beneath its walls,The hills with snow are white.
Ah yes, the hills are white with snow,And cold with blasts that bite and freeze;But in the happy vale belowThe orange and pomegranate grow,And wafts of air toss to and froThe blossoming almond-trees.
The Vega cleft by the Xenil,The fascination and allureOf the sweet landscape chains the will;The traveller lingers on the hill,His parted lips are breathing stillThe last sigh of the Moor.
How like a ruin overgrownWith flower's that hide the rents of time,Stands now the Past that I have known,Castles in Spain, not built of stoneBut of white summer clouds, and blownInto this little mist of rhyme!
Words in this poem 25
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- phoenician a.
- Of or pertaining to Phoenica.
- annals n.
- A relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened. [L. annalis (sc. liber), and more frequently in the pl. annales (sc. libri), chronicles, fr. annus year. Cf. Annual.]
- trivial a.
- Found anywhere; common. [L. trivialis, properly, that is in, or belongs to, the crossroads or public streets; hence, that may be found everywhere, common, fr. trivium a place where thre]
- monkish a.
- Like a monk, or pertaining to monks; monastic; as, monkish manners; monkish dress; monkish solitude.
- birthplace n.
- The town, city, or country, where a person is born; place of origin or birth, in its more general sense.
- toledo n.
- A sword or sword blade made at Toledo in Spain, which city was famous in the 16th and 17th centuries for the excellence of its weapons.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- belfry n.
- A movable tower erected by besiegers for purposes of attack and defense. [OE. berfray movable tower used in sieges, OF. berfreit, berfroit, F. beffroi, fr. MHG. bervrit, bercvrit, G. bergfriede, fr. MHG. bergen to protect (G. bergen t]
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- flooding n.
- The filling or covering with water or other fluid; overflow; inundation; the filling anything to excess.
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- seaside n.
- The land bordering on, or adjacent to, the sea; the seashore.
- rung n.
- A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
- cynosure n.
- The constellation of the Lesser Bear, to which, as containing the polar star, the eyes of mariners and travelers were often directed. [L. Cynosura theconstellation Cynosure, Gr. Cynic.]
- alhambra n.
- The palace of the Moorish kings at Granada. [Ultimately fr. Ar. al the + hamra red; i. e., the red (sc. house).]
- allah n.
- The name of the Supreme Being, in use among the Arabs and the Mohammedans generally. [contr. fr. the article al the + ilah God.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- vega n.
- A brilliant star of the first magnitude, the brightest of those constituting the constellation Lyra. [Ar. w, properly, falling: cf. F. Wéga.]
- fascination n.
- The act of fascinating, bewhiching, or enchanting; enchantment; witchcraft; the exercise of a powerful or irresistible influence on the affections or passions; unseen, inexplicable influence. [L. fascinatio; cf. F. fascination.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Castles in Spain is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Castles in Spain, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/castles-in-spain.html, id L17782.
Form and metre
Castles in Spain is 90 lines in 15 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAAAB spainA · yoreB · brainA · againA · charlemagneA · campeadorB
- 2 ABAAAB theseA · revealedB · seasA · beesA · kneesA · shieldB
- 3 ABAAAB perchanceA · eldB · romanceA · circumstanceA · countenanceA · beheldB
- 4 ABAAAB hidA · rhymeB · cidA · valladolidA · amidA · timeB
- 5 ABAAAB wayA · nearB · stayA · prayA · middayA · hearB
- 6 ABAAAB passA · dinB · assA · grassA · brassA · innB
- 7 ABAAAB wheatA · seaB · streetA · feetA · heatA · meB
- 8 ABAAAB severeA · reignedB · atmosphereA · nearA · austereA · maintainedB
- 9 ABAAAB skiesA · gloomB · liesA · riseA · paradiseA · bloomB
- 10 ABAAAB amongA · vineB · sungA · hungA · rungA · shrineB
- 11 ABAAAB supremeA · cynosureB · themeA · dreamA · streamA · moorB
- 12 ABAAAB recallsA · delightB · hallsA · fallsA · wallsA · whiteB
- 13 ABAAAB snowA · freezeB · belowA · growA · froA · treesB
- 14 ABAAAB xenilA · allureB · willA · hillA · stillA · moorB
- 15 ABAAAB overgrownA · timeB · knownA · stoneA · blownA · rhymeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How much of my young heart, O Spain, | 8 | ········ |
| Went out to thee in days of yore! | 8 | ········ |
| What dreams romantic filled my brain, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And summoned back to life again | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The Paladins of Charlemagne | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| The Cid Campeador! | 5 | ····· |
| And shapes more shadowy than these, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| In the dim twilight half revealed; | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Phoenician galleys on the seas, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| The Roman camps like hives of bees, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Goth uplifting from his knees | 8 | ··/·˘··· |
| Pelayo on his shield. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| It was these memories perchance, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| From annals of remotest eld, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| That lent the colors of romance | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To every trivial circumstance, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And changed the form and countenance | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of all that I beheld. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Old towns, whose history lies hid | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| In monkish chronicle or rhyme, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Burgos, the birthplace of the Cid, | 8 | /˘·/···· |
| Zamora and Valladolid, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Toledo, built and walled amid | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| The wars of Wamba's time; | 6 | ······ |
| The long, straight line of the high-way, | 8 | ········ |
| The distant town that seems so near, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The peasants in the fields, that stay | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Their toil to cross themselves and pray, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| When from the belfry at midday | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| The Angelus they hear; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| White crosses in the mountain pass, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Mules gay with tassels, the loud din | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of muleteers, the tethered ass | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That crops the dusty wayside grass, | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| And cavaliers with spurs of brass | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Alighting at the inn; | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| White hamlets hidden in fields of wheat, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| White cities slumbering by the sea, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| White sunshine flooding square and street, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Dark mountain-ranges, at whose feet | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The river-beds are dry with heat,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All was a dream to me. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet something sombre and severe | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| O'er the enchanted landscape reigned; | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| A terror in the atmosphere | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As if King Philip listened near, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or Torquemada, the austere, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| His ghostly sway maintained. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The softer Andalusian skies | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Dispelled the sadness and the gloom; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| There Cadiz by the seaside lies, | 8 | ·˘/··/·· |
| And Seville's orange-orchards rise, | 8 | ·˘//˘/˘· |
| Making the land a paradise | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Of beauty and of bloom. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There Cordova is hidden among | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| The palm, the olive, and the vine; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Gem of the South, by poets sung, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And in whose Mosque Ahmanzor hung | 8 | ········ |
| As lamps the bells that once had rung | 8 | ········ |
| At Compostella's shrine. | 6 | ······ |
| But over all the rest supreme, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The star of stars, the cynosure, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The artist's and the poet's theme, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The young man's vision, the old man's dream,-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Granada by its winding stream, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The city of the Moor! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And there the Alhambra still recalls | 9 | ···˘/˘·˘/ |
| Aladdin's palace of delight; | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Allah il Allah! through its halls | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Whispers the fountain as it falls, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| The Darro darts beneath its walls, | 8 | ········ |
| The hills with snow are white. | 6 | ······ |
| Ah yes, the hills are white with snow, | 8 | ········ |
| And cold with blasts that bite and freeze; | 8 | ········ |
| But in the happy vale below | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The orange and pomegranate grow, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And wafts of air toss to and fro | 8 | ········ |
| The blossoming almond-trees. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| The Vega cleft by the Xenil, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The fascination and allure | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Of the sweet landscape chains the will; | 8 | ···/···· |
| The traveller lingers on the hill, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| His parted lips are breathing still | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The last sigh of the Moor. | 6 | ······ |
| How like a ruin overgrown | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With flower's that hide the rents of time, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Stands now the Past that I have known, | 8 | ········ |
| Castles in Spain, not built of stone | 8 | /˘······ |
| But of white summer clouds, and blown | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Into this little mist of rhyme! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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