Cashel of Munster
FROM THE IRISH
I’d wed you without herds, without money or rich array.And I’d wed you on a dewy morn at day-dawn gray;My bitter woe it is, love, that we are not far awayIn Cashel town, tho’ the bare deal board were our marriage-bed this day!
O fair maid, remember the green hill-side,Remember how I hunted about the valleys wide;Time now has worn me; my locks are turn’d to gray;The year is scarce and I am poor--but send me not, love, away!
O deem not my blood is of base strain, my girl;O think not my birth was as the birth of a churl;Marry me and prove me, and say soon you willThat noble blood is written on my right side still.
My purse holds no red gold, no coin of the silver white;No herds are mine to drive through the long twilight;But the pretty girl that would take me, all bare tho’ I be and lone,O, I’d take her with me kindly to the county Tyrone!
O my girl, I can see ’tis in trouble you are;And O my girl, I see ’tis your people’s reproach you bear!--_I am a girl in trouble for his sake with whom I fly,__And, O, may no other maiden know such reproach as I!_
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- county n.
- An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [F. comt, fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cashel of Munster 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: Sir Samuel Ferguson, Cashel of Munster, in Poems (1810–1886), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-sir-samuel-ferguson/cashel-of-munster.html, id L16220.
Form and metre
Cashel of Munster is 21 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic heptameter. 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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.
- 2 AAAA arrayA · grayA · awayA · dayA
- 3 AABB sideA · wideA · grayB · awayB
- 4 AABB girlA · churlA · willB · stillB
- 5 AABB whiteA · twilightA · loneB · tyroneB
- 6 --AA are · bear · flyA · iA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| FROM THE IRISH | 4 | ··/˘ |
| I’d wed you without herds, without money or rich array. | 14 | ········/˘··˘/ |
| And I’d wed you on a dewy morn at day-dawn gray; | 13 | ······/˘····· |
| My bitter woe it is, love, that we are not far away | 14 | ·/˘·········˘/ |
| In Cashel town, tho’ the bare deal board were our marriage-bed this day! | 17 | ··········/˘/˘··· |
| O fair maid, remember the green hill-side, | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| Remember how I hunted about the valleys wide; | 13 | ˘/˘··/˘···/˘· |
| Time now has worn me; my locks are turn’d to gray; | 11 | ··········· |
| The year is scarce and I am poor--but send me not, love, away! | 15 | ·············˘/ |
| O deem not my blood is of base strain, my girl; | 11 | ··········· |
| O think not my birth was as the birth of a churl; | 12 | ············ |
| Marry me and prove me, and say soon you will | 11 | /˘········· |
| That noble blood is written on my right side still. | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| My purse holds no red gold, no coin of the silver white; | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| No herds are mine to drive through the long twilight; | 11 | ·········/· |
| But the pretty girl that would take me, all bare tho’ I be and lone, | 16 | ··/˘············ |
| O, I’d take her with me kindly to the county Tyrone! | 14 | ······/˘··/˘·/ |
| O my girl, I can see ’tis in trouble you are; | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| And O my girl, I see ’tis your people’s reproach you bear! | 14 | ········/˘˘/·· |
| --_I am a girl in trouble for his sake with whom I fly,_ | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| _And, O, may no other maiden know such reproach as I!_ | 14 | ····/˘/˘··˘/·· |
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