The Widow to Her Hour-Glass
Come, friend, I'll turn thee up again:Companion of the lonely hour!Spring thirty times hath fed with rainAnd cloath'd with leaves my humble bower,Since thou hast stoodIn frame of wood,On Chest or Window by my side:At every Birth still thou wert near,Still spoke thine admonitions clear.--And, when my Husband died,
I've often watch'd thy streaming sandAnd seen the growing Mountain rise,And often found Life's hopes to standOn props as weak in Wisdom's eyes:Its conic crownStill sliding down,Again heap'd up, then down again;The sand above more hollow grew,Like days and years still filt'ring through,And mingling joy and pain.
While thus I spin and sometimes sing,(For now and then my heart will glow)Thou measur'st Time's expanding wingBy thee the noontide hour I know:Though silent thou,Still shalt thou flow,And jog along thy destin'd way:But when I glean the sultry fields,When Earth her yellow Harvest yields,Thou get'st a Holiday.
Steady as Truth, on either endThy daily task performing well,Thou'rt Meditation's constant friend,And strik'st the Heart without a Bell:Come, lovely May!Thy lengthen'd dayShall gild once more thy native plain;Curl inward here, sweet Woodbine flow'r;--'Companion of the lonely hour,'I'll turn thee up again.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- props n.
- A game of chance, in which four sea shells, each called a prop, are used instead of dice.
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- glean n.
- Cleaning; afterbirth. Holland.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Widow to Her Hour-Glass is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, The Widow to Her Hour-Glass, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-widow-to-her-hour-glass.html, id L09699.
Form and metre
The Widow to Her Hour-Glass is 40 lines in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCDEED, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABCCDEED againA · hourB · rainA · bowerB · stoodC · woodC · sideD · nearE · clearE · diedD
- 2 ABABCCDEED sandA · riseB · standA · eyesB · crownC · downC · againD · grewE · throughE · painD
- 3 ABAB-BCDDC singA · glowB · wingA · knowB · thou · flowB · wayC · fieldsD · yieldsD · holidayC
- 4 ABABCCD--D endA · wellB · friendA · bellB · mayC · dayC · plainD · flow'r · hour · againD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come, friend, I'll turn thee up again: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Companion of the lonely hour! | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Spring thirty times hath fed with rain | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And cloath'd with leaves my humble bower, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Since thou hast stood | 4 | ···· |
| In frame of wood, | 4 | ···· |
| On Chest or Window by my side: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At every Birth still thou wert near, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Still spoke thine admonitions clear.-- | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And, when my Husband died, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I've often watch'd thy streaming sand | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And seen the growing Mountain rise, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And often found Life's hopes to stand | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On props as weak in Wisdom's eyes: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its conic crown | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Still sliding down, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Again heap'd up, then down again; | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| The sand above more hollow grew, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like days and years still filt'ring through, | 8 | ········ |
| And mingling joy and pain. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| While thus I spin and sometimes sing, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| (For now and then my heart will glow) | 8 | ········ |
| Thou measur'st Time's expanding wing | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| By thee the noontide hour I know: | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Though silent thou, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Still shalt thou flow, | 4 | ···· |
| And jog along thy destin'd way: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| But when I glean the sultry fields, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Earth her yellow Harvest yields, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thou get'st a Holiday. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Steady as Truth, on either end | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Thy daily task performing well, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Thou'rt Meditation's constant friend, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And strik'st the Heart without a Bell: | 8 | ········ |
| Come, lovely May! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Thy lengthen'd day | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Shall gild once more thy native plain; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Curl inward here, sweet Woodbine flow'r;-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Companion of the lonely hour, | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| 'I'll turn thee up again. | 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.