Poems
When like the early rose,Eileen Aroon!Beauty in childhood blows,Eileen Aroon!When, like a diadem,Buds blush around the stem,Which is the fairest gem?--Eileen Aroon!
Is it the laughing eye,Eileen Aroon!Is it the timid sigh,Eileen Aroon!Is it the tender tone,Soft as the string’d harp’s moan?O, it is truth alone,--Eileen Aroon!
When like the rising day,Eileen Aroon!Love sends his early ray,Eileen Aroon!What makes his dawning glow,Changeless through joy or woe?Only the constant know:--Eileen Aroon!
I know a valley fair,Eileen Aroon!I knew a cottage there,Eileen Aroon!Far in that valley’s shadeI knew a gentle maid,Flower of a hazel glade,--Eileen Aroon!
Who in the song so sweet?Eileen Aroon!Who in the dance so fleet?Eileen Aroon!Dear were her charms to me,Dearer her laughter free,Dearest her constancy,--Eileen Aroon!
Were she no longer true,Eileen Aroon!What should her lover do?Eileen Aroon!Fly with his broken chainFar o’er the sounding main,Never to love again,--Eileen Aroon!
Youth must with time decay,Eileen Aroon!Beauty must fade away,Eileen Aroon!Castles are sack’d in war,Chieftains are scatter’d far,Truth is a fixèd star,--Eileen Aroon!
Words in this poem
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems 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: Gerald Griffin, Poems, (1803–1840), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-gerald-griffin/eileen-aroon.html, id L16201.
Form and metre
Eileen Aroon is 56 lines in 7 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCCB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCCCB roseA · aroonB · blowsA · aroonB · diademC · stemC · gemC · aroonB
- 2 ABABCCCB eyeA · aroonB · sighA · aroonB · toneC · moanC · aloneC · aroonB
- 3 ABABCCCB dayA · aroonB · rayA · aroonB · glowC · woeC · knowC · aroonB
- 4 ABABCCCB fairA · aroonB · thereA · aroonB · shadeC · maidC · gladeC · aroonB
- 5 ABABCC-B sweetA · aroonB · fleetA · aroonB · meC · freeC · constancy · aroonB
- 6 ABABCCCB trueA · aroonB · doA · aroonB · chainC · mainC · againC · aroonB
- 7 ABAB-CCB decayA · aroonB · awayA · aroonB · war · farC · starC · aroonB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When like the early rose, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Beauty in childhood blows, | 6 | /˘·/·· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| When, like a diadem, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Buds blush around the stem, | 6 | ······ |
| Which is the fairest gem?-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Is it the laughing eye, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Is it the timid sigh, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Is it the tender tone, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Soft as the string’d harp’s moan? | 6 | ······ |
| O, it is truth alone,-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| When like the rising day, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Love sends his early ray, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| What makes his dawning glow, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Changeless through joy or woe? | 6 | /˘···· |
| Only the constant know:-- | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| I know a valley fair, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| I knew a cottage there, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Far in that valley’s shade | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I knew a gentle maid, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Flower of a hazel glade,-- | 6 | /··/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Who in the song so sweet? | 6 | ······ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Who in the dance so fleet? | 6 | ······ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Dear were her charms to me, | 6 | ······ |
| Dearer her laughter free, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Dearest her constancy,-- | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Were she no longer true, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| What should her lover do? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Fly with his broken chain | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Far o’er the sounding main, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Never to love again,-- | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Youth must with time decay, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Beauty must fade away, | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Eileen Aroon! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Castles are sack’d in war, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Chieftains are scatter’d far, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Truth is a fixèd star,-- | 5 | ····· |
| Eileen Aroon! | 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.