Off to the Fishing Ground
There's a piping wind from a sunrise shoreBlowing over a silver sea,There's a joyous voice in the lapsing tideThat calls enticingly;The mist of dawn has taken flightTo the dim horizon's bound,And with wide sails set and eager heartsWe're off to the fishing ground.
Ho, comrades mine, how that brave wind singsLike a great sea-harp afar!We whistle its wild notes back to itAs we cross the harbor bar.Behind us there are the homes we loveAnd hearts that are fond and true,And before us beckons a strong young dayOn leagues of glorious blue.
Comrades, a song as the fleet goes out,A song of the orient sea!We are the heirs of its tingling strife,Its courage and liberty.Sing as the white sails cream and fill,And the foam in our wake is long,Sing till the headlands black and grimEcho us back our song!
Oh, 'tis a glad and heartsome thingTo wake ere the night be doneAnd steer the course that our fathers steeredIn the path of the rising sun.The wind and welkin and wave are oursWherever our bourne is found,And we envy no landsman his dream and sleepWhen we're off to the fishing ground.
Words in this poem
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- enticingly adv.
- In an enticing manner; charmingly.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- heartsome a.
- Merry; cheerful; lively.
- welkin n.
- The visible regions of the air; the vault of heaven; the sky. [OE. welken, welkene, welkne, wolcne, weolcne, AS. wolcen, pl. wolcnu, a cloud; akin to D. wolk, OFries. wolken, OS. wolkan, G. wolke, OHG. wolchan, and probably]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- bourne n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- landsman n.
- One who lives on the land; -- opposed to seaman.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Off to the Fishing Ground is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, Off to the Fishing Ground, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/off-to-the-fishing-ground.html, id L29368.
Form and metre
Off to the Fishing Ground is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 shore · sea · tide · enticingly · flight · boundA · hearts · groundA
- 2 -A-A-B-B sings · afarA · it · barA · love · trueB · day · blueB
- 3 -----A-A out · sea · strife · liberty · fill · longA · grim · songA
- 4 -A-A-B-B thing · doneA · steered · sunA · ours · foundB · sleep · groundB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There's a piping wind from a sunrise shore | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| Blowing over a silver sea, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| There's a joyous voice in the lapsing tide | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| That calls enticingly; | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| The mist of dawn has taken flight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To the dim horizon's bound, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And with wide sails set and eager hearts | 9 | ······/˘· |
| We're off to the fishing ground. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ho, comrades mine, how that brave wind sings | 9 | ·/······· |
| Like a great sea-harp afar! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| We whistle its wild notes back to it | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| As we cross the harbor bar. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Behind us there are the homes we love | 9 | ········· |
| And hearts that are fond and true, | 7 | ······· |
| And before us beckons a strong young day | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| On leagues of glorious blue. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Comrades, a song as the fleet goes out, | 9 | /········ |
| A song of the orient sea! | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| We are the heirs of its tingling strife, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Its courage and liberty. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Sing as the white sails cream and fill, | 8 | ········ |
| And the foam in our wake is long, | 8 | ····/··· |
| Sing till the headlands black and grim | 8 | ········ |
| Echo us back our song! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Oh, 'tis a glad and heartsome thing | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To wake ere the night be done | 7 | ······· |
| And steer the course that our fathers steered | 9 | ·····//˘· |
| In the path of the rising sun. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The wind and welkin and wave are ours | 9 | ···/˘···/ |
| Wherever our bourne is found, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| And we envy no landsman his dream and sleep | 11 | ··/˘·/˘···· |
| When we're off to the fishing ground. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.