Ode to Hope III. 1
They shrink, they vanish into air,Now slander taints with pestilence the gale;And mingling cries assail,The wail of Woe, and groan of grim Despair,Lo! wizard Envy from his serpent eyeDarts quick destruction in each baleful glance;Pride smiling stern, and yellow Jealousy,Frowning Disdain, and haggard Hate advance.Behold, amidst the dire array,Pale wither'd Care his giant stature rears,And, lo! his iron hand preparesTo grasp its feeble prey.
Words in this poem
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ode to Hope III. 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 III. 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-iii-1.html, id L09587.
Form and metre
Ode to Hope III. 1 is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 ABBA-C-CD--D airA · galeB · assailB · despairA · eye · glanceC · jealousy · advanceC · arrayD · rears · prepares · preyD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They shrink, they vanish into air, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Now slander taints with pestilence the gale; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And mingling cries assail, | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| The wail of Woe, and groan of grim Despair, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Lo! wizard Envy from his serpent eye | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Darts quick destruction in each baleful glance; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Pride smiling stern, and yellow Jealousy, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Frowning Disdain, and haggard Hate advance. | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Behold, amidst the dire array, | 8 | ˘/˘/··˘/ |
| Pale wither'd Care his giant stature rears, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And, lo! his iron hand prepares | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To grasp its feeble prey. | 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.