The “Three Bells” of Glasgow
Beneath the low-hung night cloudThat raked her splintering mastThe good ship settled slowly,The cruel leak gained fast.
Over the awful oceanHer signal guns pealed out.Dear God! was that Thy answerFrom the horror round about?
A voice came down the wild wind,“Ho! ship ahoy!” its cry:“Our stout Three Bells of GlasgowShall stand till daylight by!”
Hour after hour crept slowly,Yet on the heaving swellsTossed up and down the ship-lights,The lights of the Three Bells!
And ship to ship made signals,Man answered back to man,While oft, to cheer and hearten,The Three Bells nearer ran:
And the captain from her taffrailSent down his hopeful cry.“Take heart! Hold on!” he shouted,“The Three Bells shall stand by!”
All night across the watersThe tossing lights shone clear;All night from reeling taffrailThe Three Bells sent her cheer.
And when the dreary watchesOf storm and darkness passed,Just as the wreck lurched under,All souls were saved at last.
Sail on, Three Bells, forever,In grateful memory sail!Ring on, Three Bells of rescue,Above the wave and gale!
Type of the Love eternal,Repeat the Master’s cry,As tossing through our darknessThe lights of God draw nigh!
Words in this poem
- ahoy interj.
- A term used in hailing; as, [OE. a, interj. + hoy.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- hearten v. t.
- To encourage; to animate; to incite or stimulate the courage of; to embolden. [From Heart.]
- taffrail n.
- The upper part of a ship's stern, which is flat like a table on the top, and sometimes ornamented with carved work; the rail around a ship's stern. [D. tafereel a panel, picture, fr. tafel table, fr. L. tabula. See Table.]
- hopeful a.
- Full of hope, or agreeable expectation; inclined to hope; expectant.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The “Three Bells” of Glasgow 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 “Three Bells” of Glasgow, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-three-bells-of-glasgow.html, id L25206.
Form and metre
The “Three Bells” of Glasgow is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 cloud · mastA · slowly · fastA
- 2 -A-A ocean · outA · answer · aboutA
- 3 -A-A wind · cryA · glasgow · byA
- 4 -A-A slowly · swellsA · lights · bellsA
- 5 -AAA signals · manA · heartenA · ranA
- 6 -A-A taffrail · cryA · shouted · byA
- 7 -A-A waters · clearA · taffrail · cheerA
- 8 -A-A watches · passedA · under · lastA
- 9 -A-A forever · sailA · rescue · galeA
- 10 -A-A eternal · cryA · darkness · nighA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beneath the low-hung night cloud | 7 | ······· |
| That raked her splintering mast | 8 | ··˘·/˘˘· |
| The good ship settled slowly, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| The cruel leak gained fast. | 7 | ·/˘··˘· |
| Over the awful ocean | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Her signal guns pealed out. | 7 | ·/˘··˘· |
| Dear God! was that Thy answer | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From the horror round about? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| A voice came down the wild wind, | 7 | ······· |
| “Ho! ship ahoy!” its cry: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| “Our stout Three Bells of Glasgow | 8 | /˘····/· |
| Shall stand till daylight by!” | 6 | ···/·· |
| Hour after hour crept slowly, | 9 | /˘··/˘·/˘ |
| Yet on the heaving swells | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Tossed up and down the ship-lights, | 8 | ·˘······ |
| The lights of the Three Bells! | 6 | ······ |
| And ship to ship made signals, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Man answered back to man, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| While oft, to cheer and hearten, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The Three Bells nearer ran: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And the captain from her taffrail | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Sent down his hopeful cry. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “Take heart! Hold on!” he shouted, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| “The Three Bells shall stand by!” | 6 | ······ |
| All night across the waters | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| The tossing lights shone clear; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| All night from reeling taffrail | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The Three Bells sent her cheer. | 6 | ······ |
| And when the dreary watches | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of storm and darkness passed, | 7 | ···/˘·˘ |
| Just as the wreck lurched under, | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| All souls were saved at last. | 7 | ····˘·· |
| Sail on, Three Bells, forever, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| In grateful memory sail! | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| Ring on, Three Bells of rescue, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Above the wave and gale! | 6 | ······ |
| Type of the Love eternal, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Repeat the Master’s cry, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| As tossing through our darkness | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| The lights of God draw nigh! | 6 | ······ |
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