Hymn of the Waldenses
Hear, Father, hear thy faint afflicted flockCry to thee, from the desert and the rock;While those, who seek to slay thy children, holdBlasphemous worship under roofs of gold;And the broad goodly lands, with pleasant airsThat nurse the grape and wave the grain, are theirs.
Yet better were this mountain wilderness,And this wild life of danger and distress--Watchings by night and perilous flight by day,And meetings in the depths of earth to pray,Better, far better, than to kneel with them,And pay the impious rite thy laws condemn.Thou, Lord, dost hold the thunder; the firm land
Tosses in billows when it feels thy hand;Thou dashest nation against nation, thenStillest the angry world to peace again.Oh, touch their stony hearts who hunt thy sons--The murderers of our wives and little ones.
Yet, mighty God, yet shall thy frown look forthUnveiled, and terribly shall shake the earth.Then the foul power of priestly sin and allIts long-upheld idolatries shall fall.Thou shalt raise up the trampled and oppressed,And thy delivered saints shall dwell in rest.
Words in this poem
- blasphemous a.
- Speaking or writing blasphemy; uttering or exhibiting anything impiously irreverent; profane; as, a blasphemous person; containing blasphemy; as, a blasphemous book; a blasphemous caricature. [L. blasphemus, Gr. .]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- 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,]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn of the Waldenses is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, Hymn of the Waldenses, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/hymn-of-the-waldenses.html, id L07273.
Form and metre
Hymn of the Waldenses is 24 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCC flockA · rockA · holdB · goldB · airsC · theirsC
- 2 AABBCC- wildernessA · distressA · dayB · prayB · themC · condemnC · land
- 3 -AABB hand · thenA · againA · sonsB · onesB
- 4 --AABB forth · earth · allA · fallA · oppressedB · restB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hear, Father, hear thy faint afflicted flock | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Cry to thee, from the desert and the rock; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| While those, who seek to slay thy children, hold | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Blasphemous worship under roofs of gold; | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| And the broad goodly lands, with pleasant airs | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That nurse the grape and wave the grain, are theirs. | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet better were this mountain wilderness, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| And this wild life of danger and distress-- | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Watchings by night and perilous flight by day, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| And meetings in the depths of earth to pray, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Better, far better, than to kneel with them, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And pay the impious rite thy laws condemn. | 11 | ···˘/˘···˘/ |
| Thou, Lord, dost hold the thunder; the firm land | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Tosses in billows when it feels thy hand; | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Thou dashest nation against nation, then | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Stillest the angry world to peace again. | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Oh, touch their stony hearts who hunt thy sons-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The murderers of our wives and little ones. | 10 | ·/˘·/··/˘· |
| Yet, mighty God, yet shall thy frown look forth | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Unveiled, and terribly shall shake the earth. | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘···· |
| Then the foul power of priestly sin and all | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Its long-upheld idolatries shall fall. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Thou shalt raise up the trampled and oppressed, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And thy delivered saints shall dwell in rest. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
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