The Bonnie House o’ Airlie
It fell on a day, and a bonnie simmer day,When green grew aits and barley,That there fell out a great disputeBetween Argyll and Airlie.
Argyll has raised an hunder men,An hunder harness’d rarely,And he’s awa’ by the back of Dunkell,To plunder the castle of Airlie.
Lady Ogilvie looks o’er her bower-window,And O but she looks warely!And there she spied the great Argyll,Come to plunder the bonnie house of Airlie.
‘Come down, come down, my Lady Ogilvie,Come down and kiss me fairly:’‘O I winna kiss the fause Argyll,If he shouldna leave a standing stane in Airlie.’
He hath taken her by the left shoulder,Says, ‘Dame, where lies thy dowry?’‘O it’s east and west yon wan water side,And it’s down by the banks of the Airlie.’
They hae sought it up, they hae sought it down,They hae sought it maist severely,Till they fand it in the fair plum-treeThat shines on the bowling-green of Airlie.
He hath taken her by the middle sae small,And O but she grat sairly!And laid her down by the bonnie burn-side,Till they plunder’d the castle of Airlie.
‘Gif my gude lord war here this night,As he is with King Charlie,Neither you, nor ony ither Scottish lord,Durst avow to the plundering of Airlie.
‘Gif my gude lord war now at hame,As he is with his king,There durst nae a Campbell in a’ ArgyllSet fit on Airlie green.
‘Ten bonnie sons I have borne unto him,The eleventh ne’er saw his daddy;But though I had an hunder mair,I’d gie them a’ to King Charlie!’
Words in this poem
- simmer v. i.
- To boil gently, or with a gentle hissing; to begin to boil. [Prov. E. also simper; -- an onomatopoetic word.]
- warely adv.
- Cautiously; warily.
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- dowry n.
- A gift; endowment. [Contr. from dowery; cf. LL. dotarium. See Dower.]
- charlie n.
- A familiar nickname or substitute for Charles.
- avow v. t.
- To bind, or to devote, by a vow. Wyclif. [OF. avouer, fr. LL. votare to vow, fr. L. votun. See Vote, n.]
- daddy n.
- Diminutive of Dad.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bonnie House o’ Airlie is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anonymous, The Bonnie House o’ Airlie, in Poems, text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-anonymous-english/the-bonnie-house-o-airlie.html, id L15932.
Form and metre
The Bonnie House o’ Airlie is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 21 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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.
- 2 -A-A men · rarelyA · dunkell · airlieA
- 3 -A-A window · warelyA · argyll · airlieA
- 4 -A-A ogilvie · fairlyA · argyll · airlieA
- 7 -A-A small · sairlyA · side · airlieA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It fell on a day, and a bonnie simmer day, | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
| When green grew aits and barley, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That there fell out a great dispute | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Between Argyll and Airlie. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Argyll has raised an hunder men, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| An hunder harness’d rarely, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And he’s awa’ by the back of Dunkell, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| To plunder the castle of Airlie. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Lady Ogilvie looks o’er her bower-window, | 12 | /˘/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| And O but she looks warely! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And there she spied the great Argyll, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Come to plunder the bonnie house of Airlie. | 11 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| ‘Come down, come down, my Lady Ogilvie, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Come down and kiss me fairly:’ | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| ‘O I winna kiss the fause Argyll, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| If he shouldna leave a standing stane in Airlie.’ | 12 | ······/˘··/˘ |
| He hath taken her by the left shoulder, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Says, ‘Dame, where lies thy dowry?’ | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| ‘O it’s east and west yon wan water side, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And it’s down by the banks of the Airlie.’ | 10 | ········/˘ |
| They hae sought it up, they hae sought it down, | 10 | ·········· |
| They hae sought it maist severely, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Till they fand it in the fair plum-tree | 9 | ········· |
| That shines on the bowling-green of Airlie. | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| He hath taken her by the middle sae small, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| And O but she grat sairly! | 7 | ······· |
| And laid her down by the bonnie burn-side, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Till they plunder’d the castle of Airlie. | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| ‘Gif my gude lord war here this night, | 8 | ········ |
| As he is with King Charlie, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Neither you, nor ony ither Scottish lord, | 11 | /˘··/˘··/˘· |
| Durst avow to the plundering of Airlie. | 11 | ·˘/··/˘˘·/˘ |
| ‘Gif my gude lord war now at hame, | 8 | ········ |
| As he is with his king, | 6 | ······ |
| There durst nae a Campbell in a’ Argyll | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Set fit on Airlie green. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| ‘Ten bonnie sons I have borne unto him, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The eleventh ne’er saw his daddy; | 9 | ·˘/˘···/˘ |
| But though I had an hunder mair, | 8 | ········ |
| I’d gie them a’ to King Charlie!’ | 8 | ······/˘ |
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