Analysis of Fragments Of Ancient Poetry, Fragment I

James Macpherson 1736 (Ruthven) – 1796 (Inverness)



My love is a son of the hill.
He pursues the flying deer.
His grey dogs are panting
around him; his bow-string sounds in
the wind. Whether by the fount of
the rock, or by the stream of the
mountain thou liest; when the rushes are
nodding with the wind, and the mist
is flying over thee, let me approach
my love unperceived, and see him
from the rock. Lovely I saw thee
first by the aged oak; thou wert returning
tall from the chace; the fairest
among thy friends.

What voice is that I hear? that
voice like the summer-wind.--I sit
not by the nodding rushes; I hear not
the fount of the rock. Afar, Vinvela,
afar I go to the wars of Fingal. My
dogs attend me no more. No more
I tread the hill. No more from on
high I see thee, fair-moving by the
stream of the plain; bright as the
bow of heaven; as the moon on the
western wave.

Then thou art gone, O Shilric!
and I am alone on the hill. The
deer are seen on the brow; void of
fear they graze along. No more they
dread the wind; no more the rustling
tree. The hunter is far removed;
he is in the field of graves. Strangers!
sons of the waves! spare my
lovely Shilric.

If fall I must in the field, raise high
my grave, Vinvela. Grey stones, and
heaped-up earth, shall murk me to future
times. When the hunter shall sit by
the mound, and produce his food at
noon, "some warrior rests here," he
will say; and my fame shall live in his
praise. Remember me, Vinvela, when
low on earth I lie!

Yes!--I will remember thee--indeed
my Shilric will fall. What shall I do,
my love! when thou art gone for ever?
Through these hills I will go at noon: O
will go through the silent heath. There
I will see where often thou sattest returning
from the chace. Indeed, my Shilric
will fall; but I will remember
him.


Scheme AXBXCDXEXFGBEX HXXAIXXDDDX BDCXBXXIB IXJIHGXXI XXJXXBBJF
Poetic Form
Metre 11101101 1010101 111110 01111110 01101011 01110110 101110101 10101001 1101011101 111011 10110111 1101111010 1101010 0111 1111111 11010111 1101010111 01101011 0111101111 10111111 11011111 111111010 1101110 111010110 101 111111 011011010 11110111 11101111 10111010 10101101 110011110 110111 101 111100111 111110 111111110 11010111 01001111 11100111 110111101 1010111 11111 111010101 11111111 111111110 111111111 11101011 11111011010 1010111 11111010 1
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,780
Words 361
Sentences 36
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 14, 11, 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 52
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 266
Words per stanza (avg) 68
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:48 min read
14

James Macpherson

James Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of poems. more…

All James Macpherson poems | James Macpherson Books

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