Analysis of “The Rock of Cader Idris”
by Felicia Dorothea Hemans

von: Marthe Stoll

Chapter Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. “The Rock of Cader Idris” 3

2.1 Imagery 4

2.1.1 1st stanza  4
2.1.2 2nd stanza 5
2.1.3 3rd stanza 7
2.1.4 4th stanza  8

2.2 A short review  10
2.3 Biographical implications 11

3. Detailed analysis of the ballad’s style 12

3.1 Stylistic devices 12
3.2 Prosody 14

3.2.1 Meter 14
3.2.2 Rhythm 15

4. Conclusion 16

5. Appendix 18

6. Sources 19

1. Introduction:

In my paper I will analyse the poem “The Rock of Cader Idris” (1822) by Felicia Dorothea Hemans and in this connection I chiefly confine myself to imagery, Hemans’ biographical background and some stylistic means. The procedure I planned is to analyse the ballad’s content with regard to the four substances earth, water, air and fire, to the senses of perception and to the persona’s transformation from a passive observer to an active creator. I aim to show that the persona’s emotions can be attributed to natural objects and that nature or art respectively takes the role of a healer. Moreover, I would like to illustrate that Hemans knew her trade, namely writing poetry.

Before starting I would like to mention that I did not want to say “it” when talking about the persona, so I decided to use “she” in order to stress that the poem was written by a woman and that the persona herself can be regarded as female, too, as I will show in the sequel.

2. “The Rock of Cader Idris”

At the very beginning, it might be helpful to classify the poem with the intention of giving a very general categorization of “The Rock of Cader Idris”. Due to the monologue that is utilized one can state that Hemans employs the form of a ballad, better of an art ballad, being close to the form of the drama. The poem is composed of a quite plain language telling a dramatic episode of the persona’s life stressed by a gloomy ambience1.

2.1 Imagery

2.1.1 1st stanza

In the first stanza the persona lays on the rock Cader Idris, that might stand for the substance earth, where she meets with “storms, […] phantoms […] [and] cloud[s]”2. Here she hears the song-like “mountain-wind”3, maybe a symbol of the permanent need for art, constantly increasing in a “solemn and loud”4 manner around the rock’s peak. Introductory, these first lines characterize the persona: The rock can be a symbol of the persona’s body5, while the storms can be associated with her strong emotions 6 and the phantoms with her imagination that is still disguised, being represented by the cloud. In her head, there is the everlasting urge for creating and enjoying art (the mountain wind) always being present and circling in her head. After that, the persona describes the scenario of the shadowy midnight on the rock being full of groaning sounds of “waves”7, probably representing the substance water, of “breezes”8, possibly standing for the substance air, and of veiled stars, maybe symbolizing a “blurred” belief in something. The persona’s present state of mind is described:

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1 Beck, R./Kuester, H./Kuester, M. Terminologie der Literaturwissenschaft. pp 129

2 Appendix, p. 18, ll 1,2

3 Cf. appendix, l. 3

4 Cf. appendix, l. 4

5 Becker, Udo. Lexikon der Symbole. pp 73

6 Cf. Becker. p. 333

7 Cf. appendix, l. 6

8 Cf. appendix, l. 6