Analysis of The Outlaw
Sir Walter Scott 1771 (College Wynd, Edinburgh) – 1832 (Abbotsford, Roxburghshire)
O, Brignall banks are wild and fair,
And Greta woods are green,
And you may gather garlands there,
Would grace a summer queen:
And as I rode by Dalton Hall,
Beneath the turrets high,
A Maiden on the castle wall
Was singing merrily:—
'O, Brignall banks are fresh and fair,
And Greta woods are green!
I'd rather rove with Edmund there
Than reign our English Queen.'
'If, Maiden, thou wouldst wend with me
To leave both tower and town,
Thou first must guess what life lead we,
That dwell by dale and down:
And if thou canst that riddle read,
As read full well you may,
Then to the green-wood shalt thou speed
As blithe as Queen of May.'
Yet sung she, 'Brignall banks are fair,
And Greta woods are green!
I'd rather rove with Edmund there
Than reign our English Queen.
'I read you by your bugle horn
And by your palfrey good,
I read you for a Ranger sworn
To keep the King's green-wood.'
'A Ranger, Lady, winds his horn,
And 'tis at peep of light;
His blast is heard at merry morn,
And mine at dead of night.'
Yet sung she, 'Brignall banks are fair,
And Greta woods are gay!
I would I were with Edmund there,
To reign his Queen of May!
'With burnish'd brand and musketoon
So gallantly you come,
I read you for a bold Dragoon,
That lists the tuck of drum.'
'I list no more the tuck of drum,
No more the trumpet hear;
But when the beetle sounds his hum,
My comrades take the spear.
'And O! though Brignall banks be fair,
And Greta woods be gay,
Yet mickle must the maiden dare,
Would reign my Queen of May!
'Maiden! a nameless life I lead,
A nameless death I'll die;
The fiend whose lantern lights the mead
Were better mate than I!
And when I'm with my comrades met
Beneath the green-wood bough,
What once we were we all forget,
Nor think what we are now.'
Yet Brignall banks are fresh and fair,
And Greta woods are green,
And you may gather flowers there
Would grace a summer queen.
Scheme | aBaBcdce aBAB efefghih ABAB jkjkjljl Ahah bmbmmxmx ahah gdidnono aBaB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 1111101 010111 0111011 110101 01111101 010101 01010101 110100 1111101 010111 11011101 1110101 11011111 1111001 11111111 111101 01111101 111111 11011111 111111 1111111 010111 11011101 1110101 11111101 011101 11110101 110111 01010111 011111 11111101 011111 1111111 010111 11101101 111111 110101 110011 1111011 110111 11110111 110101 11010111 11101 0111111 010111 11010101 111111 10010111 010111 01110101 010111 0111111 010111 11101101 111111 1111101 010111 01110101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,052 |
Words | 367 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 27, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 59 Views
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"The Outlaw" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/35593/the-outlaw>.
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