The Ballad of Keith of Ravelston

Sydney Dobell (1824–1874) · 1824–1874

common measure · 44 lines · from Poems

The murmur of the mourning ghostThat keeps the shadowy kine,‘O Keith of Ravelston,The sorrows of thy line!’

Ravelston, Ravelston,The merry path that leadsDown the golden morning hill,And thro’ the silver meads;

Ravelston, Ravelston,The stile beneath the tree,The maid that kept her mother’s kine,The song that sang she!

She sang her song, she kept her kine,She sat beneath the thorn,When Andrew Keith of RavelstonRode thro’ the Monday morn.

His henchmen sing, his hawk-bells ring,His belted jewels shine;O Keith of Ravelston,The sorrows of thy line!

Year after year, where Andrew came,Comes evening down the glade,And still there sits a moonshine ghostWhere sat the sunshine maid.

Her misty hair is faint and fair,She keeps the shadowy kine;O Keith of Ravelston,The sorrows of thy line!

I lay my hand upon the stile,The stile is lone and cold,The burnie that goes babbling bySays naught that can be told.

Yet, stranger! here, from year to year,She keeps her shadowy kine;O Keith of Ravelston,The sorrows of thy line!

Step out three steps, where Andrew stood--Why blanch thy cheeks for fear?The ancient stile is not alone,’Tis not the burn I hear!

She makes her immemorial moan,She keeps her shadowy kine;O Keith of Ravelston,The sorrows of thy line!

Words in this poem

ghost n.: The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
stile n.: A pin set on the face of a dial, to cast a shadow; a style. See Style. Moxon. [See Style.]
rode n.: Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
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.]
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 ]
moonshine n.: The light of the moon.
sunshine n.: The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
burnie n.: A small brook. Burns. [See 4th Burn.]
immemorial a.: Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial. [Pref. im- not + memorial: cf. F. immémorial.]

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

About this text

The Ballad of Keith of Ravelston 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: Sydney Dobell, The Ballad of Keith of Ravelston, in Poems (1824–1874), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-sydney-dobell/the-ballad-of-keith-of-ravelston.html, id L16234.

Form and metre

The Ballad of Keith of Ravelston is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in common measure.

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 ghost · kine^A · ravelston · line^A
2 -A-A ravelston · leads^A · hill · meads^A
3 -A-A ravelston · tree^A · kine · she^A
4 -A-A kine · thorn^A · ravelston · morn^A
5 -A-A ring · shine^A · ravelston · line^A
6 -A-A came · glade^A · ghost · maid^A
7 -A-A fair · kine^A · ravelston · line^A
8 -A-A stile · cold^A · by · told^A
9 -A-A year · kine^A · ravelston · line^A
10 -A-A stood · fear^A · alone · hear^A
11 -A-A moan · kine^A · ravelston · line^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 common measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
The murmur of the mourning ghost	8	·/˘··/˘·
That keeps the shadowy kine,	6	···/˘·
‘O Keith of Ravelston,	6	······
The sorrows of thy line!’	6	·/˘···
Ravelston, Ravelston,	6	······
The merry path that leads	6	·/˘···
Down the golden morning hill,	7	··/˘/˘·
And thro’ the silver meads;	6	···/˘·
Ravelston, Ravelston,	6	······
The stile beneath the tree,	6	······
The maid that kept her mother’s kine,	8	·····/˘·
The song that sang she!	5	·····
She sang her song, she kept her kine,	8	········
She sat beneath the thorn,	6	······
When Andrew Keith of Ravelston	8	·/˘·····
Rode thro’ the Monday morn.	6	···/˘·
His henchmen sing, his hawk-bells ring,	8	·/˘·····
His belted jewels shine;	6	·/˘/˘·
O Keith of Ravelston,	6	······
The sorrows of thy line!	6	·/˘···
Year after year, where Andrew came,	8	·····/˘·
Comes evening down the glade,	6	·/˘···
And still there sits a moonshine ghost	8	·····/··
Where sat the sunshine maid.	6	···/··
Her misty hair is faint and fair,	8	·/˘·····
She keeps the shadowy kine;	6	···/˘·
O Keith of Ravelston,	6	······
The sorrows of thy line!	6	·/˘···
I lay my hand upon the stile,	8	········
The stile is lone and cold,	6	······
The burnie that goes babbling by	8	·/˘··/˘·
Says naught that can be told.	6	······
Yet, stranger! here, from year to year,	8	·/˘·····
She keeps her shadowy kine;	6	···/˘·
O Keith of Ravelston,	6	······
The sorrows of thy line!	6	·/˘···
Step out three steps, where Andrew stood--	8	·····/˘·
Why blanch thy cheeks for fear?	6	······
The ancient stile is not alone,	8	·/˘···˘/
’Tis not the burn I hear!	6	······
She makes her immemorial moan,	8	····˘/˘·
She keeps her shadowy kine;	6	···/˘·
O Keith of Ravelston,	6	······
The sorrows of thy line!	6	·/˘···

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.

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