The Alpine Hunter
Wilt thou not the lambkins guard?Oh, how soft and meek they look,Feeding on the grassy sward,Sporting round the silvery brook!"Mother, mother, let me goOn yon heights to chase the roe!"
Wilt thou not the flock compelWith the horn's inspiring notes?Sweet the echo of yon bell,As across the wood it floats!"Mother, mother, let me goOn yon heights to hunt the roe!"
Wilt thou not the flow'rets bind,Smiling gently in their bed?For no garden thou wilt findOn yon heights so wild and dread."Leave the flow'rets,--let them blow!Mother, mother, let me go!"
And the youth then sought the chase,Onward pressed with headlong speedTo the mountain's gloomiest place,--Naught his progress could impede;And before him, like the wind,Swiftly flies the trembling hind!
Up the naked precipiceClambers she, with footsteps light,O'er the chasm's dark abyssLeaps with spring of daring might;But behind, unweariedly,With his death-bow follows he.
Now upon the rugged topStands she,--on the loftiest height,Where the cliffs abruptly stop,And the path is lost to sight.There she views the steeps below,--Close behind, her mortal foe.
She, with silent, woeful gaze,Seeks the cruel boy to move;But, alas! in vain she prays--To the string he fits the groove.When from out the clefts, behold!Steps the Mountain Genius old.
With his hand the DeityShields the beast that trembling sighs;"Must thou, even up to me,Death and anguish send?" he cries,--Earth has room for all to dwell,--"Why pursue my loved gazelle?"
Words in this poem
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Alpine Hunter is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, The Alpine Hunter, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-alpine-hunter.html, id L21826.
Form and metre
The Alpine Hunter is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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-ABB guard · lookA · sward · brookA · goB · roeB
- 2 ABABCC compelA · notesB · bellA · floatsB · goC · roeC
- 3 ABABCC bindA · bedB · findA · dreadB · blowC · goC
- 4 ABABCC chaseA · speedB · placeA · impedeB · windC · hindC
- 5 ABAB-- precipiceA · lightB · abyssA · mightB · unweariedly · he
- 6 ABABCC topA · heightB · stopA · sightB · belowC · foeC
- 7 ABABCC gazeA · moveB · praysA · grooveB · beholdC · oldC
- 8 -A-ABB deity · sighsA · me · criesA · dwellB · gazelleB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wilt thou not the lambkins guard? | 7 | ······· |
| Oh, how soft and meek they look, | 7 | ······· |
| Feeding on the grassy sward, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Sporting round the silvery brook! | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| "Mother, mother, let me go | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| On yon heights to chase the roe!" | 7 | ······· |
| Wilt thou not the flock compel | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| With the horn's inspiring notes? | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Sweet the echo of yon bell, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| As across the wood it floats! | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| "Mother, mother, let me go | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| On yon heights to hunt the roe!" | 7 | ······· |
| Wilt thou not the flow'rets bind, | 7 | ······· |
| Smiling gently in their bed? | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| For no garden thou wilt find | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On yon heights so wild and dread. | 7 | ······· |
| "Leave the flow'rets,--let them blow! | 7 | ······· |
| Mother, mother, let me go!" | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And the youth then sought the chase, | 7 | ······· |
| Onward pressed with headlong speed | 8 | /˘·˘·/·· |
| To the mountain's gloomiest place,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Naught his progress could impede; | 7 | ··/··˘/ |
| And before him, like the wind, | 7 | ······· |
| Swiftly flies the trembling hind! | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Up the naked precipice | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Clambers she, with footsteps light, | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| O'er the chasm's dark abyss | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Leaps with spring of daring might; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But behind, unweariedly, | 7 | ······· |
| With his death-bow follows he. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Now upon the rugged top | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Stands she,--on the loftiest height, | 7 | ······· |
| Where the cliffs abruptly stop, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And the path is lost to sight. | 7 | ······· |
| There she views the steeps below,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Close behind, her mortal foe. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She, with silent, woeful gaze, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Seeks the cruel boy to move; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But, alas! in vain she prays-- | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| To the string he fits the groove. | 7 | ······· |
| When from out the clefts, behold! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Steps the Mountain Genius old. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| With his hand the Deity | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Shields the beast that trembling sighs; | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| "Must thou, even up to me, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Death and anguish send?" he cries,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Earth has room for all to dwell,-- | 7 | ······· |
| "Why pursue my loved gazelle?" | 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.