Analysis of The Elphin Nourrice

Andrew Lang 1844 (Selkirk, Scottish Borders) – 1912 (Banchory)



I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low,
An' a cow low down in yon glen;
Lang, lang will my young son greet,
Or his mither bid him come ben.

I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low,
An' a cow low down in yon fauld;
Lang, lang will my young son greet,
Or is mither take him frae cauld.

Waken, Queen of Elfan,
An hear your Nourrice moan.
O moan ye for your meat,
Or moan ye for your fee,
Or moan ye for the ither bounties
That ladies are wont to gie?

I moan na for my meat,
Nor yet for my fee,
But I mourn for Christened land--
It's there I fain would be.

O nurse my bairn, Nourice, she says,
Till he stan' at your knee,
An' ye's win hame to Christen land,
Whar fain it's ye wad be.

O keep my bairn, Nourice,
Till he gang by the hauld,
An' ye's win hame to your young son,
Ye left in four nights auld.


Scheme AbCb AcCc bxcdex cdfd xdfd ecxx
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101011 10111011 1111111 1111111 1101101011 10111011 1111111 1111111 10111 11111 111111 111111 11110110 1101111 111111 11111 1111101 111111 1111111 111111 11111101 111111 11111 111101 11111111 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 774
Words 172
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 26
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 97
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

52 sec read
56

Andrew Lang

Andrew Richard Lang FRS CBE was a British scientist and crystallographer. more…

All Andrew Lang poems | Andrew Lang Books

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