The Ballad of Carmilhan II
The jolly skipper paused awhile,And then again began;"There is a Spectre Ship," quoth he,"A ship of the Dead that sails the sea,And is called the Carmilhan.
"A ghostly ship, with a ghostly crew,In tempests she appears;And before the gale, or against the gale,She sails without a rag of sail,Without a helmsman steers.
"She haunts the Atlantic north and south,But mostly the mid-sea,Where three great rocks rise bleak and bareLike furnace-chimneys in the air,And are called the Chimneys Three.
"And ill betide the luckless shipThat meets the Carmilhan;Over her decks the seas will leap,She must go down into the deep,And perish mouse and man."
The captain of the ValdemarLaughed loud with merry heart."I should like to see this ship," said he;"I should like to find these Chimneys Three,That are marked down in the chart.
"I have sailed right over the spot," he said"With a good stiff breeze behind,When the sea was blue, and the sky was clear,--You can follow my course by these pinholes here,--And never a rock could find."
And then he swore a dreadful oath,He swore by the Kingdoms Three,That, should he meet the Carmilhan,He would run her down, although he ranRight into Eternity!
All this, while passing to and fro,The cabin-boy had heard;He lingered at the door to hear,And drank in all with greedy ear,And pondered every word.
He was a simple country lad,But of a roving mind."O, it must be like heaven," thought he,"Those far-off foreign lands to see,And fortune seek and find!"
But in the fo'castle, when he heardThe mariners blaspheme,He thought of home, he thought of God,And his mother under the churchyard sod,And wished it were a dream.
One friend on board that ship had he;'T was the Klaboterman,Who saw the Bible in his chest,And made a sign upon his breast,All evil things to ban.
Words in this poem
- skipper n.
- One who, or that which, skips.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- blaspheme v. t.
- To speak of, or address, with impious irreverence; to revile impiously (anything sacred); as, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. [OE. blasfem, L. blasphemare, fr. Gr. : cf. F. blasphémer. See Blame, v.]
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ballad of Carmilhan II 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, The Ballad of Carmilhan II, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-ballad-of-carmilhan-ii.html, id L17682.
Form and metre
The Ballad of Carmilhan II is 55 lines in 11 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 -ABBA awhile · beganA · heB · seaB · carmilhanA
- 2 -ABBA crew · appearsA · galeB · sailB · steersA
- 3 -ABBA south · seaA · bareB · airB · threeA
- 4 -ABBA ship · carmilhanA · leapB · deepB · manA
- 5 -ABBA valdemar · heartA · heB · threeB · chartA
- 6 -ABBA said · behindA · clearB · hereB · findA
- 7 --AA- oath · three · carmilhanA · ranA · eternity
- 8 -ABBA fro · heardA · hearB · earB · wordA
- 9 -ABBA lad · mindA · heB · seeB · findA
- 10 -ABBA heard · blasphemeA · godB · sodB · dreamA
- 11 --AA- he · klaboterman · chestA · breastA · ban
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The jolly skipper paused awhile, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘˘/ |
| And then again began; | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| "There is a Spectre Ship," quoth he, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "A ship of the Dead that sails the sea, | 9 | ········· |
| And is called the Carmilhan. | 7 | ······· |
| "A ghostly ship, with a ghostly crew, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| In tempests she appears; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And before the gale, or against the gale, | 10 | ·········· |
| She sails without a rag of sail, | 8 | ········ |
| Without a helmsman steers. | 6 | ···/·· |
| "She haunts the Atlantic north and south, | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| But mostly the mid-sea, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where three great rocks rise bleak and bare | 8 | ········ |
| Like furnace-chimneys in the air, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And are called the Chimneys Three. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "And ill betide the luckless ship | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| That meets the Carmilhan; | 6 | ······ |
| Over her decks the seas will leap, | 8 | ········ |
| She must go down into the deep, | 8 | ········ |
| And perish mouse and man." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The captain of the Valdemar | 8 | ·/˘··˘˘/ |
| Laughed loud with merry heart. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "I should like to see this ship," said he; | 9 | ········· |
| "I should like to find these Chimneys Three, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| That are marked down in the chart. | 7 | ······· |
| "I have sailed right over the spot," he said | 10 | ·········· |
| "With a good stiff breeze behind, | 7 | ······· |
| When the sea was blue, and the sky was clear,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| You can follow my course by these pinholes here,-- | 11 | ··/˘····/·· |
| And never a rock could find." | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And then he swore a dreadful oath, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He swore by the Kingdoms Three, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That, should he meet the Carmilhan, | 8 | ········ |
| He would run her down, although he ran | 9 | ········· |
| Right into Eternity! | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| All this, while passing to and fro, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The cabin-boy had heard; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He lingered at the door to hear, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| And drank in all with greedy ear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And pondered every word. | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| He was a simple country lad, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| But of a roving mind. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "O, it must be like heaven," thought he, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "Those far-off foreign lands to see, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fortune seek and find!" | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But in the fo'castle, when he heard | 9 | ········· |
| The mariners blaspheme, | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| He thought of home, he thought of God, | 8 | ········ |
| And his mother under the churchyard sod, | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| And wished it were a dream. | 6 | ······ |
| One friend on board that ship had he; | 8 | ········ |
| 'T was the Klaboterman, | 7 | ······· |
| Who saw the Bible in his chest, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And made a sign upon his breast, | 8 | ········ |
| All evil things to ban. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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