The Captain’s Daughter
We were crowded in the cabin,Not a soul would dare to sleep,--It was midnight on the waters,And a storm was on the deep.
’Tis a fearful thing in winterTo be shattered by the blast,And to hear the rattling trumpetThunder, “Cut away the mast!”
So we shuddered there in silence,--For the stoutest held his breath,While the hungry sea was roaringAnd the breakers talked with Death.
As thus we sat in darkness,Each one busy with his prayers,“We are lost!” the captain shoutedAs he staggered down the stairs.
But his little daughter whispered,As she took his icy hand,“Isn’t God upon the ocean,Just the same as on the land?”
Then we kissed the little maiden.And we spoke in better cheer,And we anchored safe in harbourWhen the morn was shining clear.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- anchored a.
- Held by an anchor; at anchor; held safely; as, an anchored bark; also, shaped like an anchor; forked; as, an anchored tongue.
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Captain’s Daughter 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, The Captain’s Daughter, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-captain-s-daughter.html, id L25175.
Form and metre
The Captain’s Daughter is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 -A-A cabin · sleepA · waters · deepA
- 2 -A-A winter · blastA · trumpet · mastA
- 3 -A-A silence · breathA · roaring · deathA
- 4 -A-A darkness · prayersA · shouted · stairsA
- 5 -A-A whispered · handA · ocean · landA
- 6 -A-A maiden · cheerA · harbour · clearA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We were crowded in the cabin, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Not a soul would dare to sleep,-- | 7 | ······· |
| It was midnight on the waters, | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| And a storm was on the deep. | 7 | ······· |
| ’Tis a fearful thing in winter | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| To be shattered by the blast, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And to hear the rattling trumpet | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Thunder, “Cut away the mast!” | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| So we shuddered there in silence,-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| For the stoutest held his breath, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| While the hungry sea was roaring | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the breakers talked with Death. | 8 | ··/˘·˘·· |
| As thus we sat in darkness, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Each one busy with his prayers, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “We are lost!” the captain shouted | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| As he staggered down the stairs. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| But his little daughter whispered, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| As she took his icy hand, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| “Isn’t God upon the ocean, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Just the same as on the land?” | 7 | ······· |
| Then we kissed the little maiden. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And we spoke in better cheer, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And we anchored safe in harbour | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| When the morn was shining clear. | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.