A Song of Long Ago
A song of Long Ago:Sing it lightly--sing it low--Sing it softly--like the lisping of the lips weused to knowWhen our baby-laughter spilledFrom the glad hearts ever filledWith music blithe as robin ever trilled!
Let the fragrant summer breeze,And the leaves of locust-trees,And the apple-buds and blossoms, and thewings of honey-bees,All palpitate with glee,Till the happy harmonyBrings back each childish joy to you and me.
Let the eyes of fancy turnWhere the tumbled pippins burnLike embers in the orchard's lap of tangledgrass and fern,--There let the old path windIn and out and on behindThe cider-press that chuckles as we grind.
Blend in the song the moanOf the dove that grieves alone,And the wild whir of the locust, and thebumble's drowsy drone;And the low of cows that callThrough the pasture-bars when allThe landscape fades away at evenfall.
Then, far away and clear,Through the dusky atmosphere,Let the wailing of the killdee be the onlysound we hear:O sad and sweet and lowAs the memory may knowIs the glad-pathetic song of Long Ago!
Words in this poem
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- evenfall n.
- Beginning of evening.
- killdee n.
- A small American plover (Ægialitis vocifera). [So named from its notes.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song of Long Ago is in the public domain. This text is taken from Riley Farm-Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #4783; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Whitcomb Riley, A Song of Long Ago, in Riley Farm-Rhymes (1883–1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4783, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-farm-rhymes/a-song-of-long-ago.html, id L01971.
Form and metre
A Song of Long Ago is 35 lines in 5 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 51% of the lines. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 51% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AA-ABBB agoA · lowA · we · knowA · spilledB · filledB · trilledB
- 2 AABAB-B breezeA · treesA · theB · beesA · gleeB · harmony · meB
- 3 AA-ABBB turnA · burnA · tangled · fernA · windB · behindB · grindB
- 4 AA-ABBB moanA · aloneA · the · droneA · callB · allB · evenfallB
- 5 AA-ABBB clearA · atmosphereA · only · hearA · lowB · knowB · agoB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A song of Long Ago: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Sing it lightly--sing it low-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sing it softly--like the lisping of the lips we | 12 | ··/˘··/˘···· |
| used to know | 3 | ··· |
| When our baby-laughter spilled | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| From the glad hearts ever filled | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With music blithe as robin ever trilled! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Let the fragrant summer breeze, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And the leaves of locust-trees, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the apple-buds and blossoms, and the | 10 | ··/˘··/˘·· |
| wings of honey-bees, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| All palpitate with glee, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Till the happy harmony | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Brings back each childish joy to you and me. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Let the eyes of fancy turn | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the tumbled pippins burn | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Like embers in the orchard's lap of tangled | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| grass and fern,-- | 3 | ··· |
| There let the old path wind | 6 | ······ |
| In and out and on behind | 7 | ······· |
| The cider-press that chuckles as we grind. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Blend in the song the moan | 6 | ······ |
| Of the dove that grieves alone, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And the wild whir of the locust, and the | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| bumble's drowsy drone; | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| And the low of cows that call | 7 | ······· |
| Through the pasture-bars when all | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The landscape fades away at evenfall. | 10 | ·/··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Then, far away and clear, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Through the dusky atmosphere, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Let the wailing of the killdee be the only | 12 | ··/˘······/˘ |
| sound we hear: | 3 | ··· |
| O sad and sweet and low | 6 | ······ |
| As the memory may know | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Is the glad-pathetic song of Long Ago! | 11 | ···˘/˘···˘/ |
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.