The Twa Corbies
As I was walking all alane,I heard twa corbies making a mane:The tane unto the tither did say,‘Whar sall we gang and dine the day?’
‘--In behint yon auld fail dykeI wot there lies a new-slain knight;And naebody kens that he lies thereBut his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.
‘His hound is to the hunting gane,His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,His lady’s ta’en anither mate,So we may mak’ our dinner sweet.
‘Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane,And I’ll pike out his bonny blue e’en:Wi’ ae lock o’ his gowden hairWe’ll theek our nest when it grows bare.
‘Mony a one for him maks mane,But nane sall ken whar he is gane:O’er his white banes, when they are bare,The wind sall blaw for evermair.’
Words in this poem
- tither n.
- One who collects tithes.
- 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.]
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- gane v. i.
- To yawn; to gape. [See Yawn.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Twa Corbies 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 Twa Corbies, in The Oxford Book of Ballads (before 1800), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44593, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/oxford-ballads/the-twa-corbies.html, id L08416.
Form and metre
The Twa Corbies is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABB alaneA · maneA · sayB · dayB
- 2 --AA dyke · knight · thereA · fairA
- 4 --AA bane · e'en · hairA · bareA
- 5 AABB maneA · ganeA · bareB · evermairB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As I was walking all alane, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I heard twa corbies making a mane: | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| The tane unto the tither did say, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| ‘Whar sall we gang and dine the day?’ | 8 | ········ |
| ‘--In behint yon auld fail dyke | 7 | ······· |
| I wot there lies a new-slain knight; | 8 | ········ |
| And naebody kens that he lies there | 9 | ········· |
| But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| ‘His hound is to the hunting gane, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame, | 8 | ········ |
| His lady’s ta’en anither mate, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So we may mak’ our dinner sweet. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| ‘Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane, | 7 | ······· |
| And I’ll pike out his bonny blue e’en: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Wi’ ae lock o’ his gowden hair | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We’ll theek our nest when it grows bare. | 8 | ··/····· |
| ‘Mony a one for him maks mane, | 8 | /˘······ |
| But nane sall ken whar he is gane: | 8 | ········ |
| O’er his white banes, when they are bare, | 8 | ········ |
| The wind sall blaw for evermair.’ | 8 | ········ |
Notes from the edition 4
Arthur Quiller-Couch's notes to The Oxford Book of Ballads (1910; Project Gutenberg #44593).
- Stanza 1, line 2 corbies = ravens.
- Stanza 2, line 1 fail = turf.
- Stanza 4, line 1 hause = neck.
- Stanza 4, line 4 theek = thatch.
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