A Changeling
A little changeling spiritCrept to my arms one day:I had no heart or courageTo drive the child away.
So all day long I soothed her,And hushed her on my breast;And all night long her wailingWould never let me rest.
I dug a grave to hold her,A grave both dark and deep;I covered her with violets,And laid her there to sleep.
I used to go and watch there,Both night and morning too:-It was my tears, I fancy,That kept the violets blue.
I took her up: and once moreI felt the clinging hold,And heard the ceaseless wailingThat wearied me of old.
I wandered, and I wandered,With my burden on my breast,Till I saw a church-door open,And entered in to rest.
In the dim, dying daylight,Set in a flowery shrine,I saw the Virgin MotherHolding her Child divine.
I knelt down there in silence,And on the Altar-stoneI laid my wailing burden,And came away--alone.
And now that little spirit,That sobbed so all day long,Is grown a shining Angel,With wines both wide and strong.
She watches me from Heaven,With loving, tender care,And one day she has promisedThat I shall find her there.
Words in this poem
- changeling n.
- One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of another, as a child exchanged by fairies. [Change + -ling.]
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- 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.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Changeling is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, A Changeling, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/a-changeling.html, id L21790.
Form and metre
A Changeling is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 spirit · dayA · courage · awayA
- 2 -A-A her · breastA · wailing · restA
- 3 -A-A her · deepA · violets · sleepA
- 4 -A-A there · tooA · fancy · blueA
- 5 -A-A more · holdA · wailing · oldA
- 6 -A-A wandered · breastA · open · restA
- 7 -A-A daylight · shrineA · mother · divineA
- 8 -AAA silence · stoneA · burdenA · aloneA
- 9 -A-A spirit · longA · angel · strongA
- 10 -A-A heaven · careA · promised · thereA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A little changeling spirit | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Crept to my arms one day: | 6 | ······ |
| I had no heart or courage | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To drive the child away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| So all day long I soothed her, | 8 | ······˘· |
| And hushed her on my breast; | 7 | ··˘···· |
| And all night long her wailing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Would never let me rest. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I dug a grave to hold her, | 7 | ······· |
| A grave both dark and deep; | 6 | ······ |
| I covered her with violets, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And laid her there to sleep. | 6 | ······ |
| I used to go and watch there, | 7 | ······· |
| Both night and morning too:- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It was my tears, I fancy, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That kept the violets blue. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I took her up: and once more | 7 | ······· |
| I felt the clinging hold, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And heard the ceaseless wailing | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| That wearied me of old. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I wandered, and I wandered, | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| With my burden on my breast, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till I saw a church-door open, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And entered in to rest. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| In the dim, dying daylight, | 7 | ···/˘/· |
| Set in a flowery shrine, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I saw the Virgin Mother | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Holding her Child divine. | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| I knelt down there in silence, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And on the Altar-stone | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I laid my wailing burden, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And came away--alone. | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| And now that little spirit, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| That sobbed so all day long, | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Is grown a shining Angel, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| With wines both wide and strong. | 6 | ······ |
| She watches me from Heaven, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| With loving, tender care, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And one day she has promised | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| That I shall find her there. | 6 | ······ |
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.