Legend of the Corrievrechan
Prince Breacan of Denmark was lord of the strandAnd lord of the billowy sea;Lord of the sea and lord of the land,He might have let maidens be!
A maiden he met with locks of gold,Straying beside the sea:Maidens listened in days of old,And repented grievously.
Wiser he left her in evil wiles,Went sailing over the sea;Came to the lord of the Western Isles:Give me thy daughter, said he.
The lord of the Isles he laughed, and said:Only a king of the seaMay think the Maid of the Isles to wed,And such, men call not thee!
Hold thine own three nights and daysIn yon whirlpool of the sea,Or turn thy prow and go thy waysAnd let the isle-maiden be.
Prince Breacan he turned his dragon prowTo Denmark over the sea:Wise women, he said, now tell me howIn yon whirlpool to anchor me.
Make a cable of hemp and a cable of woolAnd a cable of maidens' hair,And hie thee back to the roaring poolAnd anchor in safety there.
The smiths of Greydule, on the eve of Yule,Will forge three anchors rare;The hemp thou shalt pull, thou shalt shear the wool,And the maidens will bring their hair.
Of the hair that is brown thou shalt twist one strand,Of the hair that is raven another;Of the golden hair thou shalt twine a bandTo bind the one to the other!
The smiths of Greydule, on the eve of Yule,They forged three anchors rare;The hemp he did pull, and he shore the wool,And the maidens brought their hair.
He twisted the brown hair for one strand,The raven hair for another;He twined the golden hair in a bandTo bind the one to the other.
He took the cables of hemp and wool.He took the cable of hair,He hied him back to the roaring pool,He cast the three anchors there.
The whirlpool roared, and the day went by,And night came down on the sea;But or ever the morning broke the skyThe hemp was broken in three.
The night it came down, the whirlpool it ran,The wind it fiercely blew;And or ever the second morning beganThe wool it parted in two.
The storm it roared all day the third,The whirlpool wallowed about,The night came down like a wild black bird,But the cable of hair held out.
Round and round with a giddy swingWent the sea-king through the dark;Round went the rope in the swivel-ring,Round reeled the straining bark.
Prince Breacan he stood on his dragon prow,A lantern in his hand:Blest be the maidens of Denmark now,By them shall Denmark stand!
He watched the rope through the tempest blackA lantern in his hold:Out, out, alack! one strand will crack!It is the strand of gold!
The third morn clear and calm came out:No anchored ship was there!The golden strand in the cable stoutWas not all of maidens' hair.
Words in this poem
- billowy a.
- Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- yule n.
- Christmas or Christmastide; the feast of the Nativity of our Savior. [OE. yol, ýol, AS. geól; akin to geóla December or January, Icel. jol Yule, Ylir the name of a winter month, Sw. jul Christmas, Dan. juul, Goth. jiuleis November]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- anchored a.
- Held by an anchor; at anchor; held safely; as, an anchored bark; also, shaped like an anchor; forked; as, an anchored tongue.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Legend of the Corrievrechan is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, Legend of the Corrievrechan, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/legend-of-the-corrievrechan.html, id L22296.
Form and metre
Legend of the Corrievrechan is 76 lines in 19 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 14 of its 19 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 ABAB strandA · seaB · landA · beB
- 2 A-A- goldA · sea · oldA · grievously
- 3 ABAB wilesA · seaB · islesA · heB
- 4 ABAB saidA · seaB · wedA · theeB
- 5 ABAB daysA · seaB · waysA · beB
- 6 ABAB prowA · seaB · howA · meB
- 7 -A-A wool · hairA · pool · thereA
- 8 -A-A yule · rareA · wool · hairA
- 9 ABAB strandA · anotherB · bandA · otherB
- 10 -A-A yule · rareA · wool · hairA
- 11 ABAB strandA · anotherB · bandA · otherB
- 12 -A-A wool · hairA · pool · thereA
- 13 ABAB byA · seaB · skyA · threeB
- 14 ABAB ranA · blewB · beganA · twoB
- 15 ABAB thirdA · aboutB · birdA · outB
- 16 ABAB swingA · darkB · ringA · barkB
- 17 ABAB prowA · handB · nowA · standB
- 18 ABAB blackA · holdB · crackA · goldB
- 19 ABAB outA · thereB · stoutA · hairB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Prince Breacan of Denmark was lord of the strand | 11 | ····/······ |
| And lord of the billowy sea; | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Lord of the sea and lord of the land, | 9 | ········· |
| He might have let maidens be! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A maiden he met with locks of gold, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Straying beside the sea: | 6 | /˘·/·· |
| Maidens listened in days of old, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| And repented grievously. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Wiser he left her in evil wiles, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Went sailing over the sea; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Came to the lord of the Western Isles: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Give me thy daughter, said he. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The lord of the Isles he laughed, and said: | 9 | ········· |
| Only a king of the sea | 7 | /˘····· |
| May think the Maid of the Isles to wed, | 9 | ········· |
| And such, men call not thee! | 6 | ······ |
| Hold thine own three nights and days | 7 | ······· |
| In yon whirlpool of the sea, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Or turn thy prow and go thy ways | 8 | ········ |
| And let the isle-maiden be. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Prince Breacan he turned his dragon prow | 9 | ······/˘· |
| To Denmark over the sea: | 7 | ·/····· |
| Wise women, he said, now tell me how | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| In yon whirlpool to anchor me. | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| Make a cable of hemp and a cable of wool | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| And a cable of maidens' hair, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| And hie thee back to the roaring pool | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And anchor in safety there. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| The smiths of Greydule, on the eve of Yule, | 11 | ··········· |
| Will forge three anchors rare; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The hemp thou shalt pull, thou shalt shear the wool, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the maidens will bring their hair. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Of the hair that is brown thou shalt twist one strand, | 11 | ··········· |
| Of the hair that is raven another; | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Of the golden hair thou shalt twine a band | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| To bind the one to the other! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The smiths of Greydule, on the eve of Yule, | 11 | ··········· |
| They forged three anchors rare; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The hemp he did pull, and he shore the wool, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the maidens brought their hair. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| He twisted the brown hair for one strand, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The raven hair for another; | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| He twined the golden hair in a band | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To bind the one to the other. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| He took the cables of hemp and wool. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| He took the cable of hair, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| He hied him back to the roaring pool, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| He cast the three anchors there. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The whirlpool roared, and the day went by, | 9 | ·/······· |
| And night came down on the sea; | 7 | ······· |
| But or ever the morning broke the sky | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| The hemp was broken in three. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The night it came down, the whirlpool it ran, | 10 | ······/··· |
| The wind it fiercely blew; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And or ever the second morning began | 10 | ··/·/˘/˘˘/ |
| The wool it parted in two. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The storm it roared all day the third, | 8 | ········ |
| The whirlpool wallowed about, | 7 | ·/·/˘·· |
| The night came down like a wild black bird, | 9 | ········· |
| But the cable of hair held out. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Round and round with a giddy swing | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Went the sea-king through the dark; | 7 | ······· |
| Round went the rope in the swivel-ring, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Round reeled the straining bark. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Prince Breacan he stood on his dragon prow, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A lantern in his hand: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Blest be the maidens of Denmark now, | 9 | ···/˘·/·· |
| By them shall Denmark stand! | 6 | ···/·· |
| He watched the rope through the tempest black | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A lantern in his hold: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Out, out, alack! one strand will crack! | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| It is the strand of gold! | 6 | ······ |
| The third morn clear and calm came out: | 8 | ········ |
| No anchored ship was there! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The golden strand in the cable stout | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Was not all of maidens' hair. | 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.