The Lorelei

Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1836 (Portsmouth) – 1907 (Boston)



Yonder we see it from the steamer's deck,
The haunted Mountain of the Lorelei --
The hanging crags sharp-cut against a sky
Clear as a sapphire without flaw or fleck.
'Twas here the Siren lay in wait to wreck
The fisher-lad. At dusk, as he rowed by,
Perchance he heard her tender amorous cry,
And, seeing the wondrous whiteness of her neck,
Perchance would halt, and lean towards the shore;
Then she by that soft magic which she had
Would lure him, and in gossamers of her hair,
Gold upon gold, would wrap him o'er and o'er,
Wrap him, and sing to him, and drive him mad,
Then drag him down to no man knoweth where.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
118

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDEFDE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 621
Words 118
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Thomas Bailey Aldrich was a poet novelist traveler and editor more…

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