Aghadoe

John Todhunter (1839–1916) · 1839–1916

iambic heptameter · rhyming couplets · 28 lines · from Poems

There’s a glade in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe,There’s a green and silent glade in Aghadoe,Where we met, my love and I, Love’s fair planet in the sky,O’er that sweet and silent glade in Aghadoe.

There’s a glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe,There’s a deep and secret glen in Aghadoe,Where I hid from the eyes of the red-coats and their spies,That year the trouble came to Aghadoe.

O, my curse on one black heart in Aghadoe, Aghadoe,On Shaun Dhu, my mother’s son in Aghadoe!When your throat fries in hell’s drouth, salt the flame be in your mouth,For the treachery you did in Aghadoe!

For they track’d me to that glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe,When the price was on his head in Aghadoe:O’er the mountain, through the wood, as I stole to him with food,Where in hiding lone he lay in Aghadoe.

But they never took him living in Aghadoe, Aghadoe;With the bullets in his heart in Aghadoe,There he lay, the head, my breast keeps the warmth of where ’twould rest,Gone, to win the traitor’s gold, from Aghadoe!

I walk’d to Mallow town from Aghadoe, Aghadoe,Brought his head from the gaol’s gate to Aghadoe;Then I cover’d him with fern, and I piled on him the cairn,Like an Irish King he sleeps in Aghadoe.

O, to creep into that cairn in Aghadoe, Aghadoe!There to rest upon his breast in Aghadoe!Sure your dog for you could die with no truer heart than I,Your own love, cold on your cairn in Aghadoe.

Words in this poem

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 ]
stole n.: A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
piled a.: Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
cairn n.: A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument. [Gael. carn, gen. cairn, a heap: cf. Ir. & W. carn.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Aghadoe 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: John Todhunter, Aghadoe, in Poems (1839–1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-john-todhunter/aghadoe.html, id L16255.

Form and metre

Aghadoe is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.4 syllables.

See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic heptameter.

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 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · sky · aghadoe^A
2 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · spies · aghadoe^A
3 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · mouth · aghadoe^A
4 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · food · aghadoe^A
5 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · rest · aghadoe^A
6 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · cairn · aghadoe^A
7 AA-A aghadoe^A · aghadoe^A · i · aghadoe^A

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 heptameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
There’s a glade in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe,	13	·············
There’s a green and silent glade in Aghadoe,	11	····/˘·····
Where we met, my love and I, Love’s fair planet in the sky,	14	·········/˘···
O’er that sweet and silent glade in Aghadoe.	11	····/˘·····
There’s a glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe, Aghadoe,	13	·············
There’s a deep and secret glen in Aghadoe,	11	····/˘·····
Where I hid from the eyes of the red-coats and their spies,	13	·············
That year the trouble came to Aghadoe.	10	···/˘·····
O, my curse on one black heart in Aghadoe, Aghadoe,	14	··············
On Shaun Dhu, my mother’s son in Aghadoe!	11	····/˘·····
When your throat fries in hell’s drouth, salt the flame be in your mouth,	14	··············
For the treachery you did in Aghadoe!	11	··/˘˘······
For they track’d me to that glen in Aghadoe, Aghadoe,	14	··············
When the price was on his head in Aghadoe:	11	···········
O’er the mountain, through the wood, as I stole to him with food,	14	··/˘··········
Where in hiding lone he lay in Aghadoe.	11	··/˘·······
But they never took him living in Aghadoe, Aghadoe;	15	··/˘··/˘·······
With the bullets in his heart in Aghadoe,	11	··/˘·······
There he lay, the head, my breast keeps the warmth of where ’twould rest,	14	··············
Gone, to win the traitor’s gold, from Aghadoe!	11	····/˘·····
I walk’d to Mallow town from Aghadoe, Aghadoe,	13	···/˘········
Brought his head from the gaol’s gate to Aghadoe;	11	···········
Then I cover’d him with fern, and I piled on him the cairn,	14	··/˘··········
Like an Irish King he sleeps in Aghadoe.	11	··/˘·······
O, to creep into that cairn in Aghadoe, Aghadoe!	14	··············
There to rest upon his breast in Aghadoe!	11	···········
Sure your dog for you could die with no truer heart than I,	14	·········/˘···
Your own love, cold on your cairn in Aghadoe.	11	···········

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