Sympathy
There should be no despair for youWhile nightly stars are burning;While evening pours its silent dew,And sunshine gilds the morning.There should be no despair--though tearsMay flow down like a river:Are not the best beloved of yearsAround your heart for ever?
They weep, you weep, it must be so;Winds sigh as you are sighing,And winter sheds its grief in snowWhere Autumn's leaves are lying:Yet, these revive, and from their fateYour fate cannot be parted:Then, journey on, if not elate,Still, NEVER broken-hearted!
Words in this poem
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sympathy 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, Sympathy, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/sympathy.html, id L13243.
Form and metre
Sympathy is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 A-A-B-B- youA · burning · dewA · morning · tearsB · river · yearsB · ever
- 2 ABABCDCD soA · sighingB · snowA · lyingB · fateC · partedD · elateC · heartedD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There should be no despair for you | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| While nightly stars are burning; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| While evening pours its silent dew, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And sunshine gilds the morning. | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| There should be no despair--though tears | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| May flow down like a river: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Are not the best beloved of years | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Around your heart for ever? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| They weep, you weep, it must be so; | 8 | ········ |
| Winds sigh as you are sighing, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And winter sheds its grief in snow | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where Autumn's leaves are lying: | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Yet, these revive, and from their fate | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Your fate cannot be parted: | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Then, journey on, if not elate, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Still, NEVER broken-hearted! | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
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.