Analysis of Off to the Fishing Ground

Lucy Maud Montgomery 1874 (New London, Prince Edward Island) – 1942 (Toronto)



There's a piping wind from a sunrise shore
Blowing over a silver sea,
There's a joyous voice in the lapsing tide
That calls enticingly;
The mist of dawn has taken flight
To the dim horizon's bound,
And with wide sails set and eager hearts
We're off to the fishing ground.

Ho, comrades mine, how that brave wind sings
Like a great sea-harp afar!
We whistle its wild notes back to it
As we cross the harbor bar.
Behind us there are the homes we love
And hearts that are fond and true,
And before us beckons a strong young day
On leagues of glorious blue.

Comrades, a song as the fleet goes out,
A song of the orient sea!
We are the heirs of its tingling strife,
Its courage and liberty.
Sing as the white sails cream and fill,
And the foam in our wake is long,
Sing till the headlands black and grim
Echo us back our song!

Oh, 'tis a glad and heartsome thing
To wake ere the night be done
And steer the course that our fathers steered
In the path of the rising sun.
The wind and welkin and wave are ours
Wherever our bourne is found,
And we envy no landsman his dream and sleep
When we're off to the fishing ground.


Scheme XAXBXCXC XDXDXXXB XAXABEXE XFXFXCXC
Poetic Form
Metre 101011011 10100101 1010100101 111 01111101 1010101 011110101 1110101 11111111 1011101 110111111 1110101 011110111 0111101 0011100111 1111001 10110111 0110101 1101111001 1100100 11011101 001010111 1101101 1011101 1101011 1110111 0101110101 00110101 010101110 01010111 01101101101 11110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,103
Words 219
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 217
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 13, 2023

1:07 min read
55

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE, called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. more…

All Lucy Maud Montgomery poems | Lucy Maud Montgomery Books

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