Vinvela
Yes!--I will remember thee--indeedmy Shilric will fall. What shall I do,my love! when thou art gone for ever?Through these hills I will go at noon: Owill go through the silent heath. ThereI will see where often thou sattest returningfrom the chace. Indeed, my Shilricwill fall; but I will rememberhim.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- chace v. t.
- To pursue. See Chase v. t.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vinvela 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, Vinvela, in Fragments of Ancient Poetry (1760), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8161, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macpherson-ossian/vinvela-3.html, id L09636.
Form and metre
Vinvela is 9 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 67% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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.
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Yes!--I will remember thee--indeed | 9 | ···˘/˘·˘/ |
| my Shilric will fall. What shall I do, | 9 | ········· |
| my love! when thou art gone for ever? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Through these hills I will go at noon: O | 9 | ········· |
| will go through the silent heath. There | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| I will see where often thou sattest returning | 12 | ····/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| from the chace. Indeed, my Shilric | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| will fall; but I will remember | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| him. | 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.