The Well of St. Keyne
I found the Well of St. Keyne in Cornwall, England--not the poem, butthe real well. The poem is of the great body of world-lore. Southey
A well there is in the west country,And a clearer one never was seen;There is not a wife in the west-countryBut has heard of the Well of St. Keyne.
An oak and an elm tree stand beside,And behind does an ash tree grow,And a willow from the bank aboveDroops to the water below.
A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne:Pleasant it was to his eye,For from cock-crow he had been travellingAnd there was not a cloud in the sky.
He drank of the water so cool and clear,For thirsty and hot was he,And he sat down upon the bank,Under the willow tree.
There came a man from the neighbouring townAt the well to fill his pail;On the well-side he rested it,And bade the stranger hail.
“Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger?” quoth he,“For an if thou hast a wife,The happiest draught thou hast drunk this dayThat ever thou didst in thy life.
“Or has your good woman, if one you have,In Cornwall ever been?For an if she have, I’ll venture my lifeShe has drunk of the Well of St. Keyne.”
“I have left a good woman who never was here,”The stranger he made reply;“But that my draught should be better for that,I pray you answer me why.”
“St. Keyne,” quoth the countryman, “many a timeDrank of this crystal well,And before the angel summoned herShe laid on the water a spell.
“If the husband of this gifted wellShall drink before his wife,A happy man thenceforth is he,For he shall be master for life.
“But if the wife should drink of it first,God help the husband then!”The stranger stoop’d to the Well of St. Keyne,And drank of the waters again.
“You drank of the well, I warrant, betimes?”He to the countryman said;But the countryman smiled as the stranger spake,And sheepishly shook his head.
“I hastened as soon as the wedding was done,And left my wife in the porch,But i’ faith she had been wiser than me,For she took a bottle to church,”
Words in this poem
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- neighbouring a.
- Living or being near; adjacent; as, the neighboring nations or countries.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- 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,]
- thenceforth adv.
- From that time; thereafter.
- betimes adv.
- In good season or time; before it is late; seasonably; early. [Pref. be- (for by) + time; that is, by the proper time. The -s is an adverbial ending.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Well of St. Keyne 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 Well of St. Keyne, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-well-of-st-keyne.html, id L25266.
Form and metre
The Well of St. Keyne is 54 lines in 14 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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.
- 2 A-A- countryA · seen · countryA · keyne
- 3 -A-A beside · growA · above · belowA
- 4 -A-A keyne · eyeA · travelling · skyA
- 5 -A-A clear · heA · bank · treeA
- 6 -A-A town · pailA · it · hailA
- 7 -A-A he · wifeA · day · lifeA
- 9 -A-A here · replyA · that · whyA
- 10 -A-A time · wellA · her · spellA
- 11 -A-A well · wifeA · he · lifeA
- 12 -A-A first · thenA · keyne · againA
- 13 -A-A betimes · saidA · spake · headA
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 anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I found the Well of St. Keyne in Cornwall, England--not the poem, but | 16 | ········/˘/˘··/· |
| the real well. The poem is of the great body of world-lore. Southey | 16 | ····/····/˘····· |
| A well there is in the west country, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And a clearer one never was seen; | 8 | ··/˘·/·· |
| There is not a wife in the west-country | 10 | ········/˘ |
| But has heard of the Well of St. Keyne. | 9 | ········· |
| An oak and an elm tree stand beside, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And behind does an ash tree grow, | 8 | ········ |
| And a willow from the bank above | 9 | ··/······ |
| Droops to the water below. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Pleasant it was to his eye, | 7 | /˘····· |
| For from cock-crow he had been travelling | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And there was not a cloud in the sky. | 9 | ········· |
| He drank of the water so cool and clear, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| For thirsty and hot was he, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And he sat down upon the bank, | 8 | ········ |
| Under the willow tree. | 6 | ···/·· |
| There came a man from the neighbouring town | 9 | ······/˘· |
| At the well to fill his pail; | 7 | ······· |
| On the well-side he rested it, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And bade the stranger hail. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger?” quoth he, | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| “For an if thou hast a wife, | 7 | ······· |
| The happiest draught thou hast drunk this day | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That ever thou didst in thy life. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| “Or has your good woman, if one you have, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| In Cornwall ever been? | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| For an if she have, I’ll venture my life | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| She has drunk of the Well of St. Keyne.” | 9 | ········· |
| “I have left a good woman who never was here,” | 11 | ·····/˘·/·· |
| The stranger he made reply; | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| “But that my draught should be better for that, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| I pray you answer me why.” | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| “St. Keyne,” quoth the countryman, “many a time | 9 | ····/˘/·· |
| Drank of this crystal well, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And before the angel summoned her | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| She laid on the water a spell. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| “If the husband of this gifted well | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Shall drink before his wife, | 6 | ······ |
| A happy man thenceforth is he, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| For he shall be master for life. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| “But if the wife should drink of it first, | 9 | ········· |
| God help the husband then!” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The stranger stoop’d to the Well of St. Keyne, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And drank of the waters again. | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| “You drank of the well, I warrant, betimes?” | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| He to the countryman said; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| But the countryman smiled as the stranger spake, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| And sheepishly shook his head. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| “I hastened as soon as the wedding was done, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| And left my wife in the porch, | 7 | ······· |
| But i’ faith she had been wiser than me, | 9 | ······/·· |
| For she took a bottle to church,” | 8 | ····/˘·· |
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.