Song
She is a maid of artless grace,Gentle in form, and fair of face,
Tell me, thou ancient mariner,That sailest on the sea,If ship, or sail or evening starBe half so fair as she!
Tell me, thou gallant cavalier,Whose shining arms I see,If steel, or sword, or battle-fieldBe half so fair as she!
Tell me, thou swain, that guard'st thy flockBeneath the shadowy tree,If flock, or vale, or mountain-ridgeBe half so fair as she!
Words in this poem
- cavalier n.
- A military man serving on horseback; a knight. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Cavallier, Caballine.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/song-5.html, id L18038.
Form and metre
Song is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AA graceA · faceA
- 2 -A-A mariner · seaA · star · sheA
- 3 -A-A cavalier · seeA · field · sheA
- 4 -A-A flock · treeA · ridge · sheA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She is a maid of artless grace, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Gentle in form, and fair of face, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Tell me, thou ancient mariner, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| That sailest on the sea, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| If ship, or sail or evening star | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be half so fair as she! | 6 | ······ |
| Tell me, thou gallant cavalier, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Whose shining arms I see, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| If steel, or sword, or battle-field | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be half so fair as she! | 6 | ······ |
| Tell me, thou swain, that guard'st thy flock | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath the shadowy tree, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| If flock, or vale, or mountain-ridge | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be half so fair as she! | 6 | ······ |
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.