A Prayer
My God (oh, let me call Thee mine,Weak, wretched sinner though I be),My trembling soul would fain be Thine;My feeble faith still clings to Thee.
Not only for the Past I grieve,The Future fills me with dismay;Unless Thou hasten to relieve,Thy suppliant is a castaway.
I cannot say my faith is strong,I dare not hope my love is great;But strength and love to Thee belong;Oh, do not leave me desolate!
I know I owe my all to Thee;Oh, TAKE the heart I cannot give!Do Thou my strength--my Saviour be,And MAKE me to Thy glory live.
Words in this poem
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- relieve v. t.
- To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise. Piers Plowman. [OE. releven, F. relever to raise again, discharge, relieve, fr. L. relevare to lift up, raise, make light, relieve; pref. re- re- + levare to raise, fr. levis l]
- suppliant a.
- Asking earnestly and submissively; entreating; beseeching; supplicating. [F., p.pr. of supplier to entreat, L. supplicare. See Supplicate, and cf. Supplicant.]
- castaway n.
- One who, or that which, is cast away or shipwrecked.
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Prayer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, Project Gutenberg ebook #1019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, A Prayer, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/a-prayer.html, id L13286.
Form and metre
A Prayer is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables.
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 ABAB mineA · beB · thineA · theeB
- 2 ABAB grieveA · dismayB · relieveA · castawayB
- 3 ABAB strongA · greatB · belongA · desolateB
- 4 ABAB theeA · giveB · beA · liveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My God (oh, let me call Thee mine, | 8 | ········ |
| Weak, wretched sinner though I be), | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| My trembling soul would fain be Thine; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My feeble faith still clings to Thee. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Not only for the Past I grieve, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Future fills me with dismay; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Unless Thou hasten to relieve, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Thy suppliant is a castaway. | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| I cannot say my faith is strong, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I dare not hope my love is great; | 8 | ········ |
| But strength and love to Thee belong; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Oh, do not leave me desolate! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I know I owe my all to Thee; | 8 | ········ |
| Oh, TAKE the heart I cannot give! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Do Thou my strength--my Saviour be, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And MAKE me to Thy glory live. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.