Analysis of A Legend of Teignmouth
A STORY of the olden time, when hearts
Wore truer faith than now—a carved stone
Is in a little ancient church which stands
Mid yonder trees, ’tis now almost defaced ;
But careful eye may trace the mould’ring lines,
And kind tradition has preserv’d the tale ;
I tell it nearly in the very words
Which are the common legend.
Some few brief hours, my gallant bark,
And we shall see the shore ;
My native, and my beautiful,
That I will leave no more.
And gallantly the white sails swept
On, on before the wind ;
The prow dash’d through the foam and left
A sparkling line behind.
The sun look’d out through the blue sky,
A gladsome summer sun ;
The white cliffs like his mirrors show
Their native land is won.
And gladly from the tall ship’s side,
Sir Francis hail’d the land,
And gladly in his swiftest boat,
Row’d onward to the strand.
“I see my father’s castle walls
Look down upon the sea ;
The red wine will flow there to-night,
And all for love of me.
“I left a gentle maiden there :
For all the tales they say
Of woman’s wrong and faithlessness
To him who is away ;
“I’ll wager on her lily hand,
Where’s still a golden ring ;
But, lady, ’tis a plainer one
That o’er the seas I bring.”
His bugle sound the turret swept
They meet him in the hall ;
But ’mid dear faces where is here,
The dearest of them all !
Ah ! every brow is dark and sad,
And every voice is low ;
His bosom beats not as it beat
A little while ago.
They lead him to a darken’d room.
A heavy pall they raise ;
A face looks forth as beautiful
As in its living days.
A ring is yet upon the hand,
Sir Francis, worn for thee.
Alas ! that such a clay-cold hand,
Should true love’s welcome be !
He kiss’d that pale and lovely mouth,
He laid her in the grave ;
And then again Sir Francis sail’d
Far o’er the ocean wave.
To east and west, to north and south,
That mariner was known ;
A wanderer bound to many a shore,
But never to his own.
At length the time appointed came,
He knew that it was come ;
With pallid brow and wasted frame,
That mariner sought home.
The worn-out vessel reach’d the shore,
The weary sails sank down ;
The seamen clear’d her of the spoils
From many an Indian town.
And then Sir Francis fired the ship ;
Yet tears were in his eyes,
When the last blaze of those old planks
Died in the midnight skies.
Next morning, ’twas a Sabbath morn
They sought that church, to pray ;
And cold beside his maiden's tomb
The brave Sir Francis lay.
O, Death ! the pitying that restored
The lover to his bride ;
Once more the marble was unclosed,
They laid him at her side.
And still the evening sunshine sheds
Its beauty o’er that tomb ;
Like heaven’s own hope, to mitigate
Earth’s too unkindly doom.
Scheme | ABXCXXXX XDED FGXG XHIH JKXK XLXL XMAM KNHN FOXO XIXI PQEQ KLKL RSCS RBDB TXTX DUXU XVXV XMPM XJCJ XPXP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101010111 110111011 1001010111 110111101 110111011 010101101 1111000101 1101010 111101101 011101 11001100 111111 01000111 110101 01110101 010101 01111011 01101 01111101 110111 01010111 110101 01001101 110101 11110101 110101 01111111 011111 11010101 110111 11101 111101 11010101 110101 11010101 110111 11010101 111001 11110111 010111 110011101 0100111 11011111 010101 1111011 010111 01111100 101101 01110101 110111 01110111 111101 11110101 110001 01011101 110101 11011101 110011 0100111001 110111 11010101 111111 11010101 110011 01110101 010111 01010101 11011001 011101001 110011 10111111 10011 11010101 111111 0101111 011101 110100101 010111 1101011 111101 0101011 110111 11011110 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,799 |
Words | 598 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 20 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 84 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
About this poem
Written for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834 to accompany a plate showing Teignmouth from the Ness
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Written on October 01, 1833
Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on September 17, 2016
Modified by Madeleine Quinn on March 12, 2024
- 2:59 min read
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"A Legend of Teignmouth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/45159/a-legend-of-teignmouth>.
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