Analysis of The Lay of the Last Minstrel: Canto 6 (excerpt)
Sir Walter Scott 1771 (College Wynd, Edinburgh) – 1832 (Abbotsford, Roxburghshire)
O listen, listen, ladies gay!
No haughty feat of arms I tell;
Soft is the note, and sad the lay,
That mourns the lovely Rosabelle.
"Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew!
And, gentle ladye, deign to stay,
Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch,
Nor tempt the stormy firth to-day.
"The blackening wave is edg'd with white:
To inch and rock the sea-mews fly;
The fishers have heard the Water-Sprite,
Whose screams forebode that wreck is nigh.
"Last night the gifted Seer did view
A wet shroud swathed round ladye gay;
Then stay thee, Fair, in Ravensheuch:
Why cross the gloomy firth to-day?"--
"'Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir
To-night at Roslin leads the ball,
But that my ladye-mother there
Sits lonely in her castle-hall.
"'Tis not because the ring they ride,
And Lindesay at the ring rides well,
But that my sire the wine will chide,
If 'tis not fill'd by Rosabelle."--
O'er Roslin all that dreary night
A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light,
And redder than the bright moon-beam.
It glar'd on Roslin's castled rock,
It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,
And seen from cavern'd Hawthorn-den.
Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud,
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie,
Each Baron, for a sable shroud,
Sheath'd in his iron panoply.
Seem'd all on fire, within, around,
Deep sacristy and altar's pale,
Shone every pillar foliage-bound,
And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
Blaz'd battlement and pinnet high,
Blaz'd every rose-carved buttress fair--
So still they blaze when fate is nigh
The lordly line of high St. Clair.
There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold
Lie buried within that proud chapelle;
Each one the holy vault doth hold--
But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle!
And each St. Clair was buried there,
With candle, with book, and with knell;
But the sea-caves rung, and the wild winds sung
The dirge of lovely Rosabelle.
Scheme | ABAC DAEA FGFG DAEA HIHI JBJC FKFK XLXL MGMX NONO GHGH PBPC HBXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (62%) |
Metre | 11010101 11011111 11010101 11010100 11011101 0101111 110101 11010111 010011111 11010111 010110101 11011111 11010111 0111111 111101 11010111 1101111 11110101 1111101 11000101 11010111 0110111 111100111 11111100 101011101 01011111 110101101 01010111 111111 1110111 1111111 011111 111101101 11111 11010101 10110100 111100101 11011 110010101 0110111 1100011 110011101 11111111 0111111 111011101 110011101 11010111 101110100 01111101 11011011 1011100111 01110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,876 |
Words | 330 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 113 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 20, 2023
- 1:45 min read
- 34 Views
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"The Lay of the Last Minstrel: Canto 6 (excerpt)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35576/the-lay-of-the-last-minstrel%3A-canto-6-%28excerpt%29>.
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