Gathering Song of Donald Dhu
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu,Pibroch of Donuil,Wake thy wild voice anew,Summon Clan Conuil.Come away, come away,Hark to the summons!Come in your war-array,Gentles and commons.
Come from deep glen, andFrom mountain so rocky,The war-pipe and pennonAre at Inverlochy.Come every hill-plaid, andTrue heart that wears one,Come every steel blade, andStrong hand that bears one.
Leave untended the herd,The flock without shelter;Leave the corpse uninterr’d,The bride at the altar;Leave the deer, leave the steer,Leave nets and barges:Come with your fighting gear,Broadswords and targes.
Come as the winds come, whenForests are rended;Come as the waves come, whenNavies are stranded:Faster come, faster come,Faster and faster,Chief, vassal, page, and groom,Tenant and master.
Fast they come, fast they come;See how they gather!Wide waves the eagle plumeBlended with heather,Cast your plaids, draw your blades,Forward each man set!Pibroch of Donuil DhuKnell for the onset!
Words in this poem
- commons n.
- The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled chasses or nobility; the commonalty; the common people. [Eng.]
- pennon n.
- A wing; a pinion. [Cf. Pinion.]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gathering Song of Donald Dhu is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Gathering Song of Donald Dhu, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/gathering-song-of-donald-dhu.html, id L25235.
Form and metre
Gathering Song of Donald Dhu is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-AB-B- dhu · donuilA · anew · conuilA · awayB · summons · arrayB · commons
- 2 A---ABAB andA · rocky · pennon · inverlochy · andA · oneB · andA · oneB
- 3 ----ABAB herd · shelter · uninterr'd · altar · steerA · bargesB · gearA · targesB
- 4 A-A--B-B whenA · rended · whenA · stranded · come · fasterB · groom · masterB
- 5 -----A-A come · gather · plume · heather · blades · setA · dhu · onsetA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Pibroch of Donuil Dhu, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Pibroch of Donuil, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Wake thy wild voice anew, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Summon Clan Conuil. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Come away, come away, | 6 | ·˘/·˘/ |
| Hark to the summons! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Come in your war-array, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Gentles and commons. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Come from deep glen, and | 5 | ····· |
| From mountain so rocky, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| The war-pipe and pennon | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Are at Inverlochy. | 6 | ······ |
| Come every hill-plaid, and | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| True heart that wears one, | 5 | ····· |
| Come every steel blade, and | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Strong hand that bears one. | 5 | ····· |
| Leave untended the herd, | 6 | ······ |
| The flock without shelter; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Leave the corpse uninterr’d, | 6 | ······ |
| The bride at the altar; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Leave the deer, leave the steer, | 6 | ······ |
| Leave nets and barges: | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Come with your fighting gear, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Broadswords and targes. | 5 | /···· |
| Come as the winds come, when | 6 | ······ |
| Forests are rended; | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Come as the waves come, when | 6 | ······ |
| Navies are stranded: | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Faster come, faster come, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Faster and faster, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Chief, vassal, page, and groom, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Tenant and master. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Fast they come, fast they come; | 6 | ······ |
| See how they gather! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Wide waves the eagle plume | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Blended with heather, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Cast your plaids, draw your blades, | 6 | ······ |
| Forward each man set! | 5 | /˘··· |
| Pibroch of Donuil Dhu | 6 | /˘···· |
| Knell for the onset! | 5 | ···/· |
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.