The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie
An earthly nourrice sits and sings,And aye she sings, ‘Ba, lily wean!Little ken I my bairn’s father,Far less the land that he staps in.’
Then ane arose at her bed-fit,An’ a grumly guest I’m sure was he:‘Here am I, thy bairn’s father,Although that I be not comèlie.
‘I am a man, upo’ the lan’,An’ I am a silkie in the sea;And when I’m far and far frae lan’,My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.’
‘It was na weel,’ quo’ the maiden fair,‘It was na weel, indeed,’ quo’ she,‘That the Great Silkie of Sule SkerrieSuld hae come and aught a bairn to me.’
Now he has ta’en a purse of goud,And he has pat it upo’ her knee,Sayin’, ‘Gie to me my little young son,An’ tak thee up thy nourrice-fee.
‘An’ it sall pass on a simmer’s day,When the sin shines het on evera stane,That I will tak my little young son,An’ teach him for to swim his lane.
‘An’ thu sall marry a proud gunner,An’ a proud gunner I’m sure he’ll be,An’ the very first schot that ere he schoots,He’ll schoot baith my young son and me.’
Words in this poem
- grumly adv.
- In a grum manner.
- weel
- A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. Carew. [Prov. E. weel, weal, a wicker basket to catch eels; prob. akin to willow, and so called as made of willow twigs.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- sall n.
- An East Indian timber tree (Shorea robusta), much used for building purposes. It is of a light brown color, close-grained, and durable. [Hind. s\'bel, Skr. ç\'bela.]
- simmer v. i.
- To boil gently, or with a gentle hissing; to begin to boil. [Prov. E. also simper; -- an onomatopoetic word.]
- gunner n.
- One who works a gun, whether on land or sea; a cannoneer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #44593; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie, in The Oxford Book of Ballads (before 1800), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44593, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/oxford-ballads/the-great-silkie-of-sule-skerrie.html, id L08380.
Form and metre
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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 sings · weanA · father · inA
- 3 A-A- lanA · sea · lanA · skerrie
- 4 -A-A fair · sheA · skerrie · meA
- 5 -A-A goud · kneeA · son · feeA
- 6 -A-A day · staneA · son · laneA
- 7 -A-A gunner · beA · schoots · meA
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| An earthly nourrice sits and sings, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And aye she sings, ‘Ba, lily wean! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Little ken I my bairn’s father, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Far less the land that he staps in.’ | 8 | ········ |
| Then ane arose at her bed-fit, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| An’ a grumly guest I’m sure was he: | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| ‘Here am I, thy bairn’s father, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Although that I be not comèlie. | 9 | ········· |
| ‘I am a man, upo’ the lan’, | 8 | ········ |
| An’ I am a silkie in the sea; | 9 | ········· |
| And when I’m far and far frae lan’, | 8 | ········ |
| My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.’ | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| ‘It was na weel,’ quo’ the maiden fair, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| ‘It was na weel, indeed,’ quo’ she, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| ‘That the Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie | 10 | ·········· |
| Suld hae come and aught a bairn to me.’ | 9 | ········· |
| Now he has ta’en a purse of goud, | 8 | ········ |
| And he has pat it upo’ her knee, | 9 | ········· |
| Sayin’, ‘Gie to me my little young son, | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| An’ tak thee up thy nourrice-fee. | 8 | ········ |
| ‘An’ it sall pass on a simmer’s day, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| When the sin shines het on evera stane, | 10 | ·········· |
| That I will tak my little young son, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| An’ teach him for to swim his lane. | 8 | ········ |
| ‘An’ thu sall marry a proud gunner, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| An’ a proud gunner I’m sure he’ll be, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| An’ the very first schot that ere he schoots, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| He’ll schoot baith my young son and me.’ | 8 | ········ |
Notes from the edition 4
Arthur Quiller-Couch's notes to The Oxford Book of Ballads (1910; Project Gutenberg #44593).
- Stanza 1, line 1 nourrice = nurse.
- Stanza 3, line 2 silkie = seal.
- Stanza 4, line 4 aught = own.
- Stanza 6, line 4 his lane = alone, without assistance.
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.