Laurel · William Makepeace Thackeray · Ballads

The Caïque

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) · 1849–1855

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 25 lines · from Ballads

Yonder to the kiosk, beside the creek,Paddle the swift caïque.Thou brawny oarsman with the sunburnt cheek,Quick! for it soothes my heart to hear the Bulbul speak.

Ferry me quickly to the Asian shores,Swift bending to your oars.Beneath the melancholy sycamores,Hark! what a ravishing note the lovelorn Bulbul pours.

Behold, the boughs seem quivering with delight,The stars themselves more bright,As mid the waving branches out of sightThe Lover of the Rose sits singing through the night.

Under the boughs I sat and listened still,I could not have my fill."How comes," I said, "such music to his bill?Tell me for whom he sings so beautiful a trill."

"Once I was dumb," then did the Bird disclose,"But looked upon the Rose;And in the garden where the loved one grows,I straightway did begin sweet music to compose."

"O bird of song, there's one in this caïqueThe Rose would also seek,So he might learn like you to love and speak."Then answered me the bird of dusky beak,"The Rose, the Rose of Love blushes on Leilah's cheek."

Words in this poem

yonder adv.: At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
kiosk n.: A Turkish open summer house or pavilion, supported by pillars. [Turk. kiushk, kiöshk, Per. k.]
brawny a.: Having large, strong muscles; muscular; fleshy; strong.
oarsman n.: One who uses, or is skilled in the use of, an oar; a rower.
bulbul n.: The Persian nightingale (Pycnonotus jocosus). The name is also applied to several other Asiatic singing birds, of the family Timaliidæ. The green bulbuls belong to the Chloropsis and allied genera. [Per.]
asian a.: Of or pertaining to Asia; Asiatic. [L. Asianus, Gr. Asia.]
ravishing a.: Rapturous; transporting.
lovelorn a.: Forsaken by one's love.
straightway adv.: Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Caïque 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, The Caïque, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/the-ca-que.html, id L10358.

Form and metre

The Caïque is 25 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.

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-AA creek^A · caïque · cheek^A · speak^A
2 AAAA shores^A · oars^A · sycamores^A · pours^A
3 AAAA delight^A · bright^A · sight^A · night^A
4 AAAA still^A · fill^A · bill^A · trill^A
5 AAAA disclose^A · rose^A · grows^A · compose^A
6 -AAAA caïque · seek^A · speak^A · beak^A · cheek^A

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 pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Yonder to the kiosk, beside the creek,	10	/˘··/··/··
Paddle the swift caïque.	5	/˘···
Thou brawny oarsman with the sunburnt cheek,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Quick! for it soothes my heart to hear the Bulbul speak.	12	·········/˘·
Ferry me quickly to the Asian shores,	10	/˘·/˘··/˘·
Swift bending to your oars.	6	·/˘···
Beneath the melancholy sycamores,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
Hark! what a ravishing note the lovelorn Bulbul pours.	12	···/˘··/˘/˘·
Behold, the boughs seem quivering with delight,	10	˘/···/˘·˘/
The stars themselves more bright,	6	··˘/··
As mid the waving branches out of sight	10	···/˘/˘···
The Lover of the Rose sits singing through the night.	12	·/˘····/˘···
Under the boughs I sat and listened still,	10	·······/˘·
I could not have my fill.	6	······
"How comes," I said, "such music to his bill?	10	·····/˘···
Tell me for whom he sings so beautiful a trill."	11	·······/˘··
"Once I was dumb," then did the Bird disclose,	10	········˘/
"But looked upon the Rose;	7	··˘····
And in the garden where the loved one grows,	10	···/˘·····
I straightway did begin sweet music to compose."	12	·/˘·˘/·/˘·˘/
"O bird of song, there's one in this caïque	9	·········
The Rose would also seek,	6	···/˘·
So he might learn like you to love and speak."	10	··········
Then answered me the bird of dusky beak,	10	·/˘····/˘·
"The Rose, the Rose of Love blushes on Leilah's cheek."	12	······/˘····

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.

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