The Willow-Tree
Know ye the willow-treeWhose gray leaves quiver,Whispering gloomilyTo yon pale river;Lady, at even-tideWander not near it,They say its branches hideA sad, lost spirit?
Once to the willow-treeA maid came fearful,Pale seemed her cheek to be,Her blue eye tearful;Soon as she saw the tree,Her step moved fleeter,No one was there--ah me!No one to meet her!
Quick beat her heart to hearThe far bell's chimeToll from the chapel-towerThe trysting time:But the red sun went downIn golden flame,And though she looked round,Yet no one came!
Presently came the night,Sadly to greet her,--Moon in her silver light,Stars in their glitter;Then sank the moon awayUnder the billow,Still wept the maid alone--There by the willow!
Through the long darkness,By the stream rolling,Hour after hour went onTolling and tolling.Long was the darkness,Lonely and stilly;Shrill came the night-wind,Piercing and chilly.
Shrill blew the morning breeze,Biting and cold,Bleak peers the gray dawnOver the wold.Bleak over moor and streamLooks the grey dawn,Gray, with dishevelled hair,Still stands the willow there--
Domine, Domine!Sing we a litany,--Sing for poor maiden-hearts broken and weary;Domine, Domine!Sing we a litany,Wail we and weep we a wild Miserere!
Words in this poem
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- trysting n.
- An appointment; a tryst. Trysting day, an arranged day of meeting or assembling, as of soldiers, friends, and the like.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
- stilly a.
- Still; quiet; calm.
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- domine n.
- A name given to a pastor of the Reformed Church. The word is also applied locally in the United States, in colloquial speech, to any clergyman. [See Dominie.]
- miserere n.
- The psalm usually appointed for penitential acts, being the 50th psalm in the Latin version. It commences with the word miserere. [L., have mercy, fr. misereri to have mercy, fr. miser. See Miser.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Willow-Tree 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 Willow-Tree, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/the-willow-tree.html, id L10413.
Form and metre
The Willow-Tree is 54 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 20 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-ABCBC tree · quiverA · gloomily · riverA · tideB · itC · hideB · spiritC
- 2 ABABA-A- treeA · fearfulB · beA · tearfulB · treeA · fleeter · meA · her
- 3 -A-A-B-B hear · chimeA · tower · timeA · down · flameB · round · cameB
- 4 A-A----- nightA · her · lightA · glitter · away · billow · alone · willow
- 5 AB-BAC-C darknessA · rollingB · on · tollingB · darknessA · stillyC · wind · chillyC
- 6 -ABA-BCC breeze · coldA · dawnB · woldA · stream · dawnB · hairC · thereC
- 7 AB-AB- domineA · litanyB · weary · domineA · litanyB · miserere
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Know ye the willow-tree | 6 | ···/·· |
| Whose gray leaves quiver, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Whispering gloomily | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| To yon pale river; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Lady, at even-tide | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Wander not near it, | 5 | /˘··· |
| They say its branches hide | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A sad, lost spirit? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Once to the willow-tree | 6 | ···/·· |
| A maid came fearful, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Pale seemed her cheek to be, | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Her blue eye tearful; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Soon as she saw the tree, | 6 | ······ |
| Her step moved fleeter, | 5 | ····· |
| No one was there--ah me! | 6 | ······ |
| No one to meet her! | 5 | ····· |
| Quick beat her heart to hear | 6 | ······ |
| The far bell's chime | 4 | ···· |
| Toll from the chapel-tower | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The trysting time: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But the red sun went down | 6 | ······ |
| In golden flame, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And though she looked round, | 5 | ····· |
| Yet no one came! | 4 | ···· |
| Presently came the night, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Sadly to greet her,-- | 5 | /˘··· |
| Moon in her silver light, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Stars in their glitter; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Then sank the moon away | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Under the billow, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Still wept the maid alone-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| There by the willow! | 5 | ···/· |
| Through the long darkness, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| By the stream rolling, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Hour after hour went on | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Tolling and tolling. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Long was the darkness, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Lonely and stilly; | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Shrill came the night-wind, | 5 | ····· |
| Piercing and chilly. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Shrill blew the morning breeze, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Biting and cold, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Bleak peers the gray dawn | 5 | ····· |
| Over the wold. | 4 | ···· |
| Bleak over moor and stream | 6 | ······ |
| Looks the grey dawn, | 4 | ···· |
| Gray, with dishevelled hair, | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Still stands the willow there-- | 6 | ···/·· |
| Domine, Domine! | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Sing we a litany,-- | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Sing for poor maiden-hearts broken and weary; | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Domine, Domine! | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Sing we a litany, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Wail we and weep we a wild Miserere! | 10 | ·········· |
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.