Vinvela
My love is a son of the hill.He pursues the flying deer.His grey dogs are pantingaround him; his bow-string sounds inthe wind. Whether by the fount ofthe rock, or by the stream of themountain thou liest; when the rushes arenodding with the wind, and the mistis flying over thee, let me approachmy love unperceived, and see himfrom the rock. Lovely I saw theefirst by the aged oak; thou wert returningtall from the chace; the fairestamong thy friends.
Words in this poem
- 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.html, id L09632.
Form and metre
Vinvela is 14 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 79% 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 -----A----A--- hill · deer · panting · in · of · theA · are · mist · approach · him · theeA · returning · fairest · friends
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My love is a son of the hill. | 8 | ········ |
| He pursues the flying deer. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| His grey dogs are panting | 6 | ····/˘ |
| around him; his bow-string sounds in | 8 | ········ |
| the wind. Whether by the fount of | 8 | ········ |
| the rock, or by the stream of the | 8 | ········ |
| mountain thou liest; when the rushes are | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| nodding with the wind, and the mist | 8 | /˘······ |
| is flying over thee, let me approach | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| my love unperceived, and see him | 8 | ········ |
| from the rock. Lovely I saw thee | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| first by the aged oak; thou wert returning | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| tall from the chace; the fairest | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| among thy friends. | 4 | ···· |
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.