Analysis of Dunolly's Daughter.



Oh, dear to old Dunolly's heart
His darling daughter seemed,
Yet when she fled, how pitiless
His bitter curse was deemed.

To death he doomed her lover true,
And swore his lowly blood
Should stain the land, whose soil would blush
At wanton womanhood.

But leaves were thick, and woods were green,
Where summer saw their love,
And none could tell Dunolly where
Was nesting his wild dove.

Two years had sped, and all unchanged
Dunolly's mood remained;
When tired with hunting, late at eve
A forest hut he gained.

A cheerful scene! for hung on trees
On either side the door
A stag and roe, and salmon there
Lay strewn the hut before.

There pausing silently he heard
Light laughter, O well known;
And, looking through the wattled wall
Stood motionless as stone.

He saw a happy woman lie
Her true man's form beside;
And laugh as on the bed they tossed
A smiling child in pride.

No word Dunolly spoke, but went,
An altered man, and said;
"Go bring them home, for rich are they,
Love shows them nobly wed."


Scheme XAXA XXXX XBCB XDXD XECE XFXF XGXG XHXH
Poetic Form Quatrain  (88%)
Metre 111111 110101 11111100 110111 11110101 011101 11011111 11010 11010101 110111 011111 110111 11110101 1101 110110111 010111 01011111 110101 01010101 110101 11010011 110111 01010101 110011 11010101 011101 01110111 010101 111111 110101 11111111 111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 987
Words 190
Sentences 10
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 98
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 06, 2023

57 sec read
6

John Campbell

John Campbell Shairp (30 July 1819 - 18 September 1885) was a Scottish poet, literary critic and academic. From his youth Shairp was a writer, but he did not publish early. In 1856 he issued a vigorous pamphlet on ‘The Wants of Scottish Universities and some of the Remedies.’ After settling at St. Andrews, he contributed frequently to periodicals. In 1864 he published Kilmahoe: A Highland pastoral, and other poems, in which he revealed his love of nature and of Scottish scenes and interests, and displayed a strong and original, if somewhat irregular, lyrical gift. Among the miscellaneous pieces in the volume, the tender and haunting "Bush aboon Traquair" easily won and retained popularity more…

All John Campbell poems | John Campbell Books

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