Ode to Hope I. 1
O thou, who gladd'st the pensive soul,More than Aurora's smile the swain forlorn,Left all night long to mournWhere desolation frowns, and tempests howl,And shrieks of woe, as intermits the storm,Far o'er the monstrous wilderness resound,And 'cross the gloom darts many a shapeless form,And many a fire-eyed visage glares around!O come, and be once more my guest:Come, for thou oft thy suppliant's vow hast heard,And oft with smiles indulgent cheer'dAnd soothed him into rest.
Words in this poem
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ode to Hope I. 1 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #8695; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Beattie, Ode to Hope I. 1, in The Minstrel and Other Poems (1771–1774), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/beattie-minstrel/ode-to-hope-i-1.html, id L09581.
Form and metre
Ode to Hope I. 1 is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -AA-BCBCD--D soul · forlornA · mournA · howl · stormB · resoundC · formB · aroundC · guestD · heard · cheer'd · restD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O thou, who gladd'st the pensive soul, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| More than Aurora's smile the swain forlorn, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Left all night long to mourn | 6 | ······ |
| Where desolation frowns, and tempests howl, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And shrieks of woe, as intermits the storm, | 10 | ·········· |
| Far o'er the monstrous wilderness resound, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·/ |
| And 'cross the gloom darts many a shapeless form, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| And many a fire-eyed visage glares around! | 10 | ·/·/·/˘··· |
| O come, and be once more my guest: | 8 | ········ |
| Come, for thou oft thy suppliant's vow hast heard, | 10 | ·········· |
| And oft with smiles indulgent cheer'd | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And soothed him into rest. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.