From Uhland
A little girl through field and woodWent plucking flowerets here and there,When suddenly beside her stoodA lady wondrous fair!
The lovely lady smiled, and laidA wreath upon the maiden's brow;"Wear it, 'twill blossom soon," she said,"Although 'tis leafless now."
The little maiden older grewAnd wandered forth of moonlight eves,And sighed and loved as maids will do;When, lo! her wreath bore leaves.
Then was our maid a wife, and hungUpon a joyful bridegroom's bosom;When from the garland's leaves there sprungFair store of blossom.
And presently a baby fairUpon her gentle breast she reared;When midst the wreath that bound her hairRich golden fruit appeared.
But when her love lay cold in death,Sunk in the black and silent tomb,All sere and withered was the wreathThat wont so bright to bloom.
Yet still the withered wreath she wore;She wore it at her dying hour;When, to the wondrous garland boreBoth leaf, and fruit, and flower!
The cold gray hills they bind me around,The darksome valleys lie sleeping below,But the winds as they pass o'er all this ground,Bring me never a sound of woe!
Oh! for all I have suffered and striven,Care has embittered my cup and my feast;But here is the night and the dark blue heaven,And my soul shall be at rest.
O golden legends writ in the skies!I turn towards you with longing soul,And list to the awful harmoniesOf the Spheres as on they roll.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- 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
From Uhland is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #2732; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Makepeace Thackeray, From Uhland, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/from-uhland.html, id L18575.
Form and metre
From Uhland is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB woodA · thereB · stoodA · fairB
- 2 -A-A laid · browA · said · nowA
- 3 ABAB grewA · evesB · doA · leavesB
- 4 A-A- hungA · bosom · sprungA · blossom
- 5 ABAB fairA · rearedB · hairA · appearedB
- 6 -A-A death · tombA · wreath · bloomA
- 7 ABAB woreA · hourB · boreA · flowerB
- 8 ABAB aroundA · belowB · groundA · woeB
- 10 ABAB skiesA · soulB · harmoniesA · rollB
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A little girl through field and wood | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Went plucking flowerets here and there, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| When suddenly beside her stood | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| A lady wondrous fair! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The lovely lady smiled, and laid | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A wreath upon the maiden's brow; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Wear it, 'twill blossom soon," she said, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "Although 'tis leafless now." | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The little maiden older grew | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And wandered forth of moonlight eves, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And sighed and loved as maids will do; | 8 | ········ |
| When, lo! her wreath bore leaves. | 6 | ······ |
| Then was our maid a wife, and hung | 8 | ··/····· |
| Upon a joyful bridegroom's bosom; | 9 | ···/˘/·/˘ |
| When from the garland's leaves there sprung | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Fair store of blossom. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And presently a baby fair | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Upon her gentle breast she reared; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When midst the wreath that bound her hair | 8 | ········ |
| Rich golden fruit appeared. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| But when her love lay cold in death, | 8 | ········ |
| Sunk in the black and silent tomb, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| All sere and withered was the wreath | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That wont so bright to bloom. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet still the withered wreath she wore; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She wore it at her dying hour; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| When, to the wondrous garland bore | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Both leaf, and fruit, and flower! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The cold gray hills they bind me around, | 9 | ········· |
| The darksome valleys lie sleeping below, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| But the winds as they pass o'er all this ground, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bring me never a sound of woe! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Oh! for all I have suffered and striven, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Care has embittered my cup and my feast; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| But here is the night and the dark blue heaven, | 10 | ·········/ |
| And my soul shall be at rest. | 7 | ······· |
| O golden legends writ in the skies! | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| I turn towards you with longing soul, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And list to the awful harmonies | 9 | ····/˘/˘˘ |
| Of the Spheres as on they roll. | 7 | ······· |
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.