The Hunting Song by: Sir Walter Scott

 

¶  The poet:

He was a Scottish novelist and poet. He was born at Edinburgh, Scotland in August 1771.

¶  The main idea of the Poem:

It is basically about deer hunting, one of the sports that used to be popular among the nobles in England.

1st Stanza:

Waken lords and ladies gay.

On the mountain dawns the day:

All the jolly chase is here

With hawk and horse and hunting-spear;

Hounds are in their couples yelling,

Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling,

Merrily, merrily mingle they,

Waken, Lords and ladies gay!

1st Stanza:

Paraphrase:

The poet is calling upon the lords and ladies to wake up and get themselves ready for the joyful hunt. The sun is just beginning to rise up over the mountains. It is a special day because they will go hunting. The hunters have horses, hawks and spears. There are hounds, as well, and they are barking loudly in pairs. The hawks in the sky are making high sounds that are mixed with the sounds of the ringing horns of the animals on the ground.

The rhyme scheme is : aabbccaa

Figure of speech : there is an alliteration in “lords and ladies”. There is personification in “Hawks are whistling”

 

2^nd Stanza:

Waken Lords and ladies gay!

The mist has left the mountain grey.

Springlets in the dawn are steaming.

Diamonds on the brake are gleaming.

And foresters have busy been

To track the buck in thicket green;

Now we come to chant our lay,

Waken, Lords and ladies gay!

2nd Stanza:

Paraphrase:

The call to wake up is repeated. The poet describes the early morning before the hunt. The mist has left and made the mountains look grey. Small springs of water are making steam as the cold water meets the day's warming air. Drops of dew shine on the bushes like shining diamonds. The people who work in the forest have been busy following the male deer through the thick bushes to lead the hunters to its place. The poet once again urges the lords and ladies to wake up to sing the happy hunting song.

 

The rhyme scheme is : aabbccaa

Figure of speech : there is alliteration in “lords and ladies”.