Connal
They live. I saw them return fromthe chace, like a stream of light. Thesun was on their shields: In a line theydescended the hill. Loud is the voice ofthe youth; the war, my love, is near.To-morrow the enormous Dargo comesto try the force of our race. The race ofFingal he defies; the race of battle andwounds.
Connal, I saw his sails like grey miston the sable wave. They came to land.Connnal, many are the warriors ofDargo!
Bring me thy father's shield; the ironshield of Rinval; that shield like thefull moon when it is darkened in thesky.
Words in this poem
- chace v. t.
- To pursue. See Chase v. t.
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Connal is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Project Gutenberg ebook #8161; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Macpherson, Connal, in Fragments of Ancient Poetry (1760), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8161, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macpherson-ossian/connal.html, id L09640.
Form and metre
Connal is 17 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 99% 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. 71% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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-- from · the · they · ofA · near · comes · ofA · and · wounds
- 3 -AA- iron · theA · theA · sky
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They live. I saw them return from | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| the chace, like a stream of light. The | 8 | ········ |
| sun was on their shields: In a line they | 9 | ········· |
| descended the hill. Loud is the voice of | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| the youth; the war, my love, is near. | 8 | ········ |
| To-morrow the enormous Dargo comes | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| to try the force of our race. The race of | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Fingal he defies; the race of battle and | 11 | ···˘/···/˘· |
| wounds. | 1 | · |
| Connal, I saw his sails like grey mist | 9 | ········· |
| on the sable wave. They came to land. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Connnal, many are the warriors of | 10 | ··/˘··/˘˘· |
| Dargo! | 2 | ·· |
| Bring me thy father's shield; the iron | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| shield of Rinval; that shield like the | 8 | ········ |
| full moon when it is darkened in the | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| sky. | 1 | · |
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.