Analysis of The Well of St. Keyne
Robert Southey 1774 (Bristol) – 1843 (London)
A Well there is in the west country,
And a clearer one never was seen;
There is not a wife in the west country
But has heard of the Well of St. Keyne.
An oak and an elm-tree stand beside,
And behind doth an ash-tree grow,
And a willow from the bank above
Droops to the water below.
A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne;
Joyfully he drew nigh,
For from the cock-crow he had been travelling,
And there was not a cloud in the sky.
He drank of the water so cool and clear,
For thirsty and hot was he,
And he sat down upon the bank
Under the willow-tree.
There came a man from the house hard by
At the Well to fill his pail;
On the Well-side he rested it,
And he bade the Stranger hail.
"Now art thou a bachelor, Stranger?" quoth he,
"For an if thou hast a wife,
The happiest draught thou hast drank this day
That ever thou didst in thy life.
"Or has thy good woman, if one thou hast,
Ever here in Cornwall been?
For an if she have, I'll venture my life
She has drank of the Well of St. Keyne."
"I have left a good woman who never was here."
The Stranger he made reply,
"But that my draught should be the better for that,
I pray you answer me why?"
"St. Keyne," quoth the Cornish-man, "many a time
Drank of this crystal Well,
And before the Angel summon'd her,
She laid on the water a spell.
"If the Husband of this gifted Well
Shall drink before his Wife,
A happy man thenceforth is he,
For he shall be Master for life.
"But if the Wife should drink of it first,--
God help the Husband then!"
The Stranger stoopt to the Well of St. Keyne,
And drank of the water again.
"You drank of the Well I warrant betimes?"
He to the Cornish-man said:
But the Cornish-man smiled as the Stranger spake,
And sheepishly shook his head.
"I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my Wife in the porch;
But i' faith she had been wiser than me,
For she took a bottle to Church."
Scheme | ABAB XCXC BDXD XAXA DEXE AFXF XXFB XDXD XGXG GFAF XHBH XIXI XXAX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (85%) |
Metre | 011100110 001011011 1110100110 111101111 110111101 00111111 00110101 1101001 01001101111 100111 11011111100 011101001 1110101101 1100111 01110101 10011 110110111 1011111 10111101 0110101 11101001011 1111101 0100111111 11011011 1111101111 1010101 1111111011 111101111 111011011011 0101101 11111101011 1111011 11101011001 111101 001010100 11101001 101011101 110111 0101111 11111011 110111111 110101 0101101111 01101001 111011101 1101011 10101110101 0100111 11011101011 0111001 1111111011 11101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,829 |
Words | 383 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:53 min read
- 89 Views
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"The Well of St. Keyne" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31908/the-well-of-st.-keyne>.
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