Shepherd Boy and Nereid
Ah, once of old in some forgotten tongue,Forgotten land, I was a shepherd boy,And you a Nereid, a wingèd joy:On through the dawn-bright peaks our bodies swungAnd flower-soft lyrics by immortals sungFell from their unseen pinnacles in air:God looked from Heaven that hour, for you were fair,And I a poet, and the star was young.
You’d heard my woodland pipe and left the sea--Your hair blown gold and all your body white--Had left the ocean-girls to follow me.We joined the hill-nymphs in their joyous flight,And you laughed lightly to the sea, and sentQuick glances flashing through me as I went.
Words in this poem
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Shepherd Boy and Nereid is in the public domain. This text is taken from The man with the hoe, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #67012; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Markham, Shepherd Boy and Nereid, in The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #67012, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-man-with-hoe/shepherd-boy-and-nereid.html, id L24768.
Form and metre
Shepherd Boy and Nereid is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABBAACCA tongueA · boyB · joyB · swungA · sungA · airC · fairC · youngA
- 2 ABABCC seaA · whiteB · meA · flightB · sentC · wentC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, once of old in some forgotten tongue, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Forgotten land, I was a shepherd boy, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| And you a Nereid, a wingèd joy: | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| On through the dawn-bright peaks our bodies swung | 10 | ······//˘· |
| And flower-soft lyrics by immortals sung | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Fell from their unseen pinnacles in air: | 10 | ···˘//˘˘·· |
| God looked from Heaven that hour, for you were fair, | 10 | ···/·/···· |
| And I a poet, and the star was young. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| You’d heard my woodland pipe and left the sea-- | 10 | ···/······ |
| Your hair blown gold and all your body white-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Had left the ocean-girls to follow me. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| We joined the hill-nymphs in their joyous flight, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And you laughed lightly to the sea, and sent | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Quick glances flashing through me as I went. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
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.