Laurel · Thomas Campbell · The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems

Pleasures of Hope. Part I

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 604 lines · from The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems

At summer eve, when Heaven’s ethereal bowSpans with bright arch the glittering hills below,Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye,Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky?Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appearMore sweet than all the landscape smiling near?—’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,And robes the mountain in its azure hue.Thus, with delight we linger to surveyThe promised joys of life’s unmeasured way;Thus, from afar, each dim-discovered sceneMore pleasing seems than all the past hath been;And every form, that Fancy can repairFrom dark oblivion, glows divinely there.

What potent spirit guides the raptured eyeTo pierce the shades of dim futurity?Can Wisdom lend, with all her heavenly power,The pledge of Joy’s anticipated hour?Ah, no! she darkly sees the fate of man—Her dim horizon bounded to a span;Or, if she hold an image to the view,’Tis Nature pictured too severely true.With thee, sweet HOPE! resides the heavenly light,That pours remotest rapture on the sight:Thine is the charm of life’s bewildered way,That calls each slumbering passion into play.Waked by thy touch, I see the sister band,On tiptoe watching, start at thy command,And fly where’er thy mandate bids them steer,To Pleasure’s path, or Glory’s bright career.

Primeval HOPE, the Aönian Muses say,When Man and Nature mourned their first decay;When every form of death, and every woe,Shot from malignant stars to earth below,When Murder bared her arm, and rampant WarYoked the red dragons of her iron car,When Peace and Mercy, banished from the plain,Sprung on the viewless winds to heaven again;All all forsook the friendless guilty mind,But HOPE, the charmer, lingered still behind.

Thus, while Elijah’s burning wheels prepareFrom Carmel’s heights to sweep the fields of air.The prophet’s mantle, ere his flight began,Dropt on the world—a sacred gift to man.

Auspicious HOPE! in thy sweet garden growWreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe;Won by their sweets, in Nature’s languid hour,The way-worn pilgrim seeks thy summer bower;There, as the wild bee murmurs on the wing,What peaceful dreams thy handmaid spirits bring!What viewless forms the Æolian organ play,And sweep the furrowed lines of anxious thought away.

Angel of life! thy glittering wings exploreEarth’s loneliest bounds, and Ocean’s wildest shore.Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yieldsHis bark careering o’er unfathomed fields;Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar,Where Andes, giant of the western star,With meteor-standard to the winds unfurled,Looks from his throne of clouds o’er half the world!

Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles,On Behring’s rocks, or Greenland’s naked isles:Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow,From wastes that slumber in eternal snow;And waft, across the wave’s tumultuous roar,The wolf’s long howl from Oonalaska’s shore.

Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!Rocks, waves, and winds, the shattered bark delay;Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.

But HOPE can here her moonlight vigils keep,And sing to charm the spirit of the deep:Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole,Her visions warm the watchman’s pensive soul;His native hills that rise in happier climes,The grot that heard his song of other times,His cottage home, his bark of slender sail,His glassy lake, and broomwood-blossomed vale,Rush on his thought; he sweeps before the wind,Treads the loved shore he sighed to leave behind;Meets at each step a friend’s familiar face,And flies at last to Helen’s long embrace;Wipes from her cheek the rapture-speaking tear,And clasps, with many a sigh, his children dear!While, long neglected, but at length caressed,His faithful dog salutes the smiling guest,Points to the master’s eyes (where’er they roam)His wistful face, and whines a welcome home.

Friend of the brave! in peril’s darkest hour,Intrepid Virtue looks to thee for power;To thee the heart its trembling homage yields,On stormy floods, and carnage-covered fields,When front to front the bannered hosts combine,Halt ere they close, and form the dreadful line.When all is still on Death’s devoted soil,The march-worn soldier mingles for the toil;As rings his glittering tube, he lifts on highThe dauntless brow, and spirit-speaking eye,Hails in his heart the triumph yet to come,And hears thy stormy music in the drum!

And such thy strength-inspiring aid that boreThe hardy Byron to his native shore—In horrid climes, where Chiloe’s tempests sweepTumultuous murmurs o’er the troubled deep,’Twas his to mourn Misfortune’s rudest shock,Scourged by the winds, and cradled on the rock,To wake each joyless morn, and search againThe famished haunts of solitary men;Whose race, unyielding as their native storm,Know not a trace of Nature but the form;Yet, at thy call, the hardy tar pursued,Pale, but intrepid—sad, but unsubdued,Pierced the deep woods, and hailing from afarThe moon’s pale planet and the northern star,Paused at each dreary cry, unheard before,Hyænas in the wild, and mermaids on the shore;Till, led by thee o’er many a cliff sublime,He found a warmer world, a milder clime,A home to rest, a shelter to defend,Peace and repose, a Briton and a friend!

Congenial HOPE! thy passion-kindling power,How bright, how strong, in youth’s untroubled hour!On yon proud height, with Genius hand in hand,I see thee light, and wave thy golden wand.“Go, child of Heaven! (thy wingèd words proclaim)’Tis thine to search the boundless fields of fame?Lo! Newton, priest of nature, shines afar,Scans the wide world, and numbers every star!Wilt thou, with him, mysterious rites apply,And watch the shrine with wonder-beaming eye!Yes, thou shalt mark, with magic art profound,The speed of light, the circling march of sound;With Franklin grasp the lightning’s fiery wing,Or yield the lyre of Heaven another string.

“The Swedish sage admires, in yonder bowers,His winged insects, and his rosy flowers;Calls from their woodland haunts the savage trainWith sounding horn, and counts them on the plain—So once, at Heaven’s command, the wanderers cameTo Eden’s shade, and heard their various name.

“Far from the world, in yon sequestered clime,Slow pass the sons of Wisdom more sublime;Calm as the fields of Heaven his sapient eyeThe loved Athenian lifts to realms on high,Admiring Plato, on his spotless page,Stamps the bright dictates of the Father sage:‘Shall nature bound to earth’s diurnal spanThe fire of God, the immortal soul of man?’

“Turn, child of Heaven, thy rapture-lightened eyeTo Wisdom’s walks, the sacred Nine are nigh:Hark! from bright spires that gild the Delphian height,From streams that wander in eternal light,Ranged on their hill, Harmonia’s daughters swellThe mingling tones of horn, and harp, and shell;Deep from his vaults, the Loxian murmurs flow,And Pythia’s awful organ peals below.

“Beloved of Heaven! the smiling Muse shall shedHer moonlight halo on thy beauteous head;Shall swell thy heart to rapture unconfined,And breathe a holy madness o’er thy mind.I see thee roam her guardian power beneath,And talk with spirits on the midnight heath;Enquire of guilty wanderers whence they came,And ask each blood-stained form his earthly name;Then weave in rapid verse the deeds they tell,And read the trembling world the tales of hell.

“When Venus, throned in clouds of rosy hue,Flings from her golden urn the vesper dew,And bids fond man her glimmering noon employ,Sacred to love, and walks of tender joy;A milder mood the goddess shall recall,And soft as dew thy tones of music fall;While Beauty’s deeply-pictured smiles impartA pang more dear than pleasure to the heart—Warm as thy sighs shall flow the Lesbian strain,And plead in Beauty’s ear, nor plead in vain.

“Or wilt thou Orphean hymns more sacred deem,And steep thy song in Mercy’s mellow stream;To pensive drops the radiant eye beguile—For Beauty’s tears are lovelier than her smile;—On Nature’s throbbing anguish pour reliefAnd teach impassioned souls the joy of grief?

“Yes; to thy tongue shall seraph words be given,And power on earth to plead the cause of Heaven;The proud, the cold untroubled heart of stone,That never mused on sorrow but its own,Unlocks a generous store at thy command,Like Horeb’s rocks beneath the prophet’s hand.The living lumber of his kindred earth,Charmed into soul, receives a second birth,Feels thy dread power another heart afford,Whose passion-touched harmonious strings accordTrue as the circling spheres to Nature’s plan;And man, the brother, lives the friend of man.

“Bright as the pillar rose at Heaven’s command,When Israel marched along the desert land,Blazed through the night on lonely wilds afar,And told the path,—a never-setting star:So, heavenly Genius, in thy course divine,HOPE is thy star, her light is ever thine.”

Propitious Power! when rankling cares annoyThe sacred home of Hymenean joy;When doomed to Poverty’s sequestered dell,The wedded pair of love and virtue dwell,Unpitied by the world, unknown to fame,Their woes, their wishes, and their hearts the same—Oh, there, prophetic HOPE! thy smile bestow,And chase the pangs that worth should never know—There, as the parent deals his scanty storeTo friendless babes, and weeps to give no more,Tell, that his manly race shall yet assuageTheir father’s wrongs, and shield his latter age.What though for him no Hybla sweets distil,Nor bloomy vines wave purple on the hill;Tell, that when silent years have passed away,That when his eye grows dim, his tresses grey,These busy hands a lovelier cot shall build,And deck with fairer flowers his little field,And call from Heaven propitious dews to breatheArcadian beauty on the barren heath;Tell, that while Love’s spontaneous smile endearsThe days of peace, the sabbath of his years,Health shall prolong to many a festive hourThe social pleasures of his humble bower.

Lo! at the couch where infant beauty sleeps,Her silent watch the mournful mother keeps;She, while the lovely babe unconscious lies,Smiles on her slumbering child with pensive eyes,And weaves a song of melancholy joy—“Sleep, image of thy father, sleep, my boy:No lingering hour of sorrow shall be thine;No sigh that rends thy father’s heart and mine;Bright as his manly sire the son shall beIn form and soul; but, ah! more blest than he!Thy fame, thy worth, thy filial love, at last,Shall soothe his aching heart for all the past—With many a smile my solitude repay,And chase the world’s ungenerous scorn away.

“And say, when summoned from the world and thee,I lay my head beneath the willow tree,Wilt thou, sweet mourner! at my stone appear,And soothe my parted spirit lingering near?Oh, wilt thou come, at evening hour to shedThe tears of Memory o’er my narrow bed;With aching temples on thy hand reclined,Muse on the last farewell I leave behind,Breathe a deep sigh to winds that murmur low,And think on all my love, and all my woe?”

So speaks affection, ere the infant eyeCan look regard, or brighten in reply;But when the cherub lip hath learnt to claimA mother’s ear by that endearing name;Soon as the playful innocent can proveA tear of pity, or a smile of love,Or cons his murmuring task beneath her care,Or lisps with holy look his evening prayer,Or gazing, mutely pensive, sits to hearThe mournful ballad warbled in his ear;How fondly looks admiring HOPE the while,At every artless tear, and every smile!How glows the joyous parent to descryA guileless bosom, true to sympathy!

Where is the troubled heart, consigned to shareTumultuous toils, or solitary care,Unblest by visionary thoughts that strayTo count the joys of Fortune’s better day!Lo, nature, life, and liberty relumeThe dim-eyed tenant of the dungeon gloom,A long-lost friend, or hapless child restored,Smiles at his blazing hearth and social board;Warm from his heart the tears of rapture flow,And virtue triumphs o’er remembered woe.

Chide not his peace, proud Reason! nor destroyThe shadowy forms of uncreated joy,That urge the lingering tide of life, and pourSpontaneous slumber on his midnight hour.Hark! the wild maniac sings, to chide the galeThat wafts so slow her lover’s distant sail;She, sad spectatress, on the wintry shoreWatched the rude surge his shroudless corse that bore,Knew the pale form, and, shrieking in amaze,Clasped her cold hands, and fixed her maddening gazePoor widowed wretch! ’twas there she wept in vain,Till Memory fled her agonizing brain;—But Mercy gave, to charm the sense of woe,Ideal peace, that truth could ne’er bestow;Warm on her heart the joys of Fancy beam,And aimless HOPE delights her darkest dream.

Oft when yon moon has climbed the midnight sky,And the lone sea-bird wakes its wildest cry,Piled on the steep, her blazing faggots burnTo hail the bark that never can return;And still she waits, but scarce forbears to weepThat constant love can linger on the deep.

And, mark the wretch, whose wanderings never knewThe world’s regard, that soothes, though half untrue,Whose erring heart the lash of sorrow bore,But found not pity when it erred no more.Yon friendless man, at whose dejected eyeThe unfeeling proud one looks—and passes by,Condemned on Penury’s barren path to roam,Scorned by the world, and left without a home—Even he, at evening, should he chance to strayDown by the hamlet’s hawthorn-scented way,Where, round the cot’s romantic glade, are seenThe blossomed bean-field, and the sloping green,Leans o’er its humble gate, and thinks the while—Oh! that for me some home like this would smile,Some hamlet shade, to yield my sickly formHealth in the breeze, and shelter in the storm!There should my hand no stinted boon assignTo wretched hearts with sorrow such as mine!—That generous wish can soothe unpitied care,And HOPE half mingles with the poor man’s prayer.

HOPE! when I mourn, with sympathising mind,The wrongs of fate, the woes of human kind,Thy blissful omens bid my spirit seeThe boundless fields of rapture yet to be;I watch the wheels of Nature’s mazy plan,And learn the future by the past of man.

Come, bright Improvement! on the car of Time,And rule the spacious world from clime to clime,Thy handmaid arts shall every wild explore,Trace every wave, and culture every shore.On Erie’s banks, where tigers steal along,And the dread Indian chaunts a dismal song,Where human fiends on midnight errands walk,And bathe in brains the murderous tomahawk,There shall the flocks on thymy pasture stray,And shepherds dance at Summer’s opening day;Each wandering genius of the lonely glenShall start to view the glittering haunts of men,And silence watch, on woodland heights around,The village curfew as it tolls profound.

In Lybian groves, where damnèd rites are done,That bathe the rocks in blood, and veil the sun,Truth shall arrest the murderous arm profane,Wild Obi flies—the veil is rent in twain.

Where barbarous hordes on Scythian mountains roamTruth, Mercy, Freedom, yet shall find a home;Where’er degraded Nature bleeds and pines,From Guinea’s coast to Sibir’s dreary mines,Truth shall pervade the unfathomed darkness there,And light the dreadful features of despair.Hark! the stern captive spurns his heavy load,And asks the image back that Heaven bestowed!Fierce in his eye the fire of valour burns,And, as the slave departs, the man returns.

Oh! sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased awhile,And HOPE, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile,When leagued Oppression poured to Northern warsHer whiskered pandoors and her fierce hussars,Waved her dread standard to the breeze of morn,Pealed her loud drum, and twanged her trumpet horn;Tumultuous horror brooded o’er her van,Presaging wrath to Poland—and to man!

Warsaw’s last champion from her height surveyed,Wide o’er the fields, a waste of ruin laid,—“Oh! Heaven!” he cried, “my bleeding country save!—Is there no hand on high to shield the brave?Yet, though destruction sweep those lovely plains,Rise, fellow-men! our country yet remains!By that dread name, we wave the sword on high!And swear for her to live!—with her to die!”

He said, and on the rampart-heights arrayedHis trusty warriors, few, but undismayed;Firm-paced and slow, a horrid front they form,Still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm;Low murmuring sounds along their banners fly,Revenge, or death,—the watch-word and reply;Then pealed the notes, omnipotent to charm,And the loud tocsin tolled their last alarm!—

In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few!From rank to rank your volleyed thunder flew:—Oh, bloodiest picture in the book of Time,Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime;Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe,Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe!Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear,Closed her bright eye, and curbed her high career;—HOPE, for a season, bade the world farewell,And Freedom shrieked—as KOSCIUSKO fell!

The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there,Tumultuous murder shook the midnight air—On Prague’s proud arch the fires of ruin glow,His blood-dyed waters murmuring far below;The storm prevails, the rampart yields a way,Bursts the wide cry of horror and dismay!Hark! as the smouldering piles with thunder fall,A thousand shrieks for hopeless mercy call!Earth shook—red meteors flashed along the sky,And conscious Nature shuddered at the cry!

Oh! righteous Heaven! ere Freedom found a grave,Why slept the sword, omnipotent to save?Where was thine arm, O Vengeance! where thy rod,That smote the foes of Zion and of God;That crushed proud Ammon, when his iron carWas yoked in wrath, and thundered from afar?Where was the storm that slumbered till the hostOf blood-stained Pharaoh left their trembling coast;Then bade the deep in wild commotion flow,And heaved an ocean on their march below?

Departed spirits of the mighty dead!Ye that at Marathon and Leuctra bled!Friends of the world! restore your swords to man,Fight in his sacred cause, and lead the van!Yet for Sarmatia’s tears of blood atone,And make her arm puissant as your own!Oh! once again to Freedom’s cause returnThe patriot TELL—the BRUCE OF BANNOCKBURN!

Yes! thy proud lords, unpitied land I shall seeThat man hath yet a soul—and dare be free!A little while, along thy saddening plains,The starless night of Desolation reigns;Truth shall restore the light by Nature given,And, like Prometheus, bring the fire of Heaven!Prone to the dust Oppression shall be hurled,Her name, her nature, withered from the world!

Ye that the rising morn invidious mark,And hate the light—because your deeds are dark;Ye that expanding truth invidious view,And think, or wish, the song of HOPE untrue;Perhaps your little hands presume to spanThe march of Genius, and the powers of man;Perhaps ye watch, at Pride’s unhallowed shrine,Her victims, newly slain, and thus divine:—“Here shall thy triumph, Genius, cease, and hereTruth, Science, Virtue, close your short career.”

Tyrants! in vain ye trace the wizard ring;In vain ye limit Mind’s unwearied spring:What! can ye lull the wingèd winds asleep,Arrest the rolling world, or chain the deep?No!—the wild wave contemns your sceptred hand.It rolled not back when Canute gave command!

Man! can thy doom no brighter soul allow?Still must thou live a blot on Nature’s brow?Shall War’s polluted banner ne’er be furled?Shall crimes and tyrants cease but with the world?What! are thy triumphs, sacred Truth, belied?Why then hath Plato lived—or Sidney died?—

Ye fond adorers of departed fame,Who warm at Scipio’s worth, or Tully’s name!Ye that, in fancied vision, can admireThe sword of Brutus, and the Theban lyre!Rapt in historic ardour, who adoreEach classic haunt, and well-remembered shore.Where Valour tuned, amid her chosen throng,The Thracian trumpet and the Spartan song;Or, wandering thence, behold the later charmsOf England’s glory, and Helvetia’s arms!See Roman fire in Hampden’s bosom swell,And fate and freedom in the shaft of Tell!Say, ye fond zealots to the worth of yore,Hath Valour left the world—to live no more?No more shall Brutus bid a tyrant die,And sternly smile with vengeance in his eye?Hampden no more, when suffering Freedom calls,Encounter Fate, and triumph as he falls?Nor Tell disclose, through peril and alarm,The might that slumbers in a peasant’s arm?

Yes! in that generous cause, for ever strong,The patriot’s virtue and the poet’s song,Still, as the tide of ages rolls away,Shall charm the world, unconscious of decay!

Yes! there are hearts, prophetic HOPE may trust,That slumber yet in uncreated dust,Ordained to fire the adoring sons of earthWith every charm of wisdom and of worth;Ordained to light, with intellectual day,The mazy wheels of Nature as they play,Or, warm with Fancy’s energy, to glow,And rival all but Shakspeare’s name below!

And say, supernal Powers! who deeply scanHeaven’s dark decrees, unfathomed yet by man,When shall the world call down, to cleanse her shame,That embryo spirit, yet without a name,—That friend of Nature, whose avenging handsShall burst the Lybian’s adamantine bands?Who, sternly marking on his native soilThe blood, the tears, the anguish, and the toil,Shall bid each righteous heart exult, to seePeace to the slave, and vengeance on the free!

Yet, yet, degraded men! the expected dayThat breaks your bitter cup, is far away;Trade, wealth, and fashion, ask you still to bleed,And holy men give Scripture for the deed;Scourged, and debased, no Briton stoops to saveA wretch, a coward; yes, because a slave!—

Eternal Nature! when thy giant handHad heaved the floods, and fixed the trembling land,When life sprung startling at thy plastic call,Endless her forms, and man the lord of all!Say, was that lordly form inspired by thee,To wear eternal chains and bow the knee?Was man ordained the slave of man to toil,Yoked with the brutes, and fettered to the soil;Weighed in a tyrant’s balance with his gold?No!—Nature stamped us in a heavenly mould!She bade no wretch his thankless labour urge,Nor, trembling, take the pittance and the scourge!No homeless Lybian, on the stormy deep,To call upon his country’s name, and weep!—

Lo! once in triumph, on his boundless plain,The quivered chief of Congo loved to reign;With fires proportioned to his native sky,Strength in his arm, and lightning in his eye;Scoured with wild feet his sun-illumined zone,The spear, the lion, and the woods his own!Or led the combat, bold without a plan,An artless savage, but a fearless man!

The plunderer came!—alas! no glory smilesFor Congo’s chief on yonder Indian isles;For ever fallen! no son of Nature now,With Freedom chartered on his manly brow!Faint, bleeding, bound, he weeps the night away,And when the sea-wind wafts the dewless day,Starts, with a bursting heart, for evermoreTo curse the sun that lights their guilty shore!

The shrill horn blew; at that alarum knellHis guardian angel took a last farewell!That funeral dirge to darkness hath resignedThe fiery grandeur of a generous mind!Poor fettered man! I hear thee whispering lowUnhallowed vows to Guilt, the child of Woe!Friendless thy heart; and canst thou harbour thereA wish but death—a passion but despair!

The widowed Indian, when her lord expires,Mounts the dread pile, and braves the funeral fires!So falls the heart at Thraldom’s bitter sigh!So Virtue dies, the spouse of Liberty!

But not to Lybia’s barren climes alone,To Chili, or the wild Siberian zone,Belong the wretched heart and haggard eye,Degraded worth, and poor misfortune’s sigh!—Ye orient realms, where Ganges’ waters run!Prolific fields! dominions of the sun!How long your tribes have trembled and obeyed!How long was Timour’s iron sceptre swayed,Whose marshalled hosts, the lions of the plain,From Scythia’s northern mountains to the main,Raged o’er your plundered shrines and altars bare,With blazing torch and gory scimitar,—Stunned with the cries of death each gentle gale,And bathed in blood the verdure of the vale!Yet could no pangs the immortal spirit tame,When Brahma’s children perished for his name;The martyr smiled beneath avenging power,And braved the tyrant in his torturing hour!

When Europe sought your subject realms to gain,And stretched her giant sceptre o’er the main,Taught her proud barks the winding way to shape,And braved the stormy spirit of the Cape;Children of Brahma! then was Mercy nighTo wash the stain of blood’s eternal dye?Did Peace descend, to triumph and to save,When freeborn Britons crossed the Indian wave?Ah, no!—to more than Rome’s ambition true,The Nurse of Freedom gave it not to you!She the bold route of Europe’s guilt began,And, in the march of nations, led the van!

Rich in the gems of India’s gaudy zone,And plunder piled from kingdoms not their own,Degenerate trade! thy minions could despiseThe heart-born anguish of a thousand cries;Could lock, with impious hands, their teeming store,While famished nations died along the shore:Could mock the groans of fellow-men, and bearThe curse of kingdoms peopled with despair;Could stamp disgrace on man’s polluted name,And barter, with their gold, eternal shame!

But hark! as bowed to earth the Brahmin kneels,From heavenly climes propitious thunder peals!Of India’s fate her guardian spirits tell,Prophetic murmurs breathing on the shell,And solemn sounds that awe the listening mind,Roll on the azure paths of every wind.

“Foes of mankind! (her guardian spirits say,)Revolving ages bring the bitter day,When Heaven’s unerring arm shall fall on you,And blood for blood these Indian plains bedew;Nine times have Brahma’s wheels of lightning hurledHis awful presence o’er the alarmèd world;Nine times hath Guilt, through all his giant frame,Convulsive trembled, as the Mighty came;Nine times hath suffering Mercy spared in vain—But Heaven shall burst her starry gates again!He comes! dread Brahma shakes the sunless skyWith murmuring wrath, and thunders from on high,Heaven’s fiery horse, beneath his warrior form,Paws the light clouds, and gallops on the storm!Wide waves his flickering sword; his bright arms glowLike summer suns, and light the world below!Earth, and her trembling isles in Ocean’s bed,Are shook; and Nature rocks beneath his tread!

“To pour redress on India’s injured realm,The oppressor to dethrone, the proud to whelm;To chase destruction from her plundered shoreWith arts and arms that triumphed once before,The tenth Avatar comes! at Heaven’s commandShall Seriswattee wave her hallowed wand!And Camdeo bright, and Ganesa sublime,Shall bless with joy their own propitious clime!—Come, Heavenly Powers! primeval peace restore!Love!—Mercy!—Wisdom!—rule for evermore!”

Words in this poem 154

afar adv.: At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
oblivion n.: The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
futurity n.: State of being that is yet to come; future state.
pictured a.: Furnished with pictures; represented by a picture or pictures; as, a pictured scene.
tiptoe n.: The end, or tip, of the toe.
career n.: A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
viewless a.: Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
friendless a.: Destitute of friends; forsaken. [AS. freóndleás.]
charmer n.: One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
handmaid n.: A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant.
explore v. t.: To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
wintry a.: Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
scarce a.: Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
waft v. t.: To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
nursling n.: One who, or that which, is nursed; an infant; a fondling. [Nurse + -ling.]
starry a.: Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
watchman n.: One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel.
vale n.: A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
wistful a.: Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
carnage n.: Flesh of slain animals or men. [F. carnage, LL. carnaticum tribute of animals, flesh of animals, fr. L. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
bannered a.: Decorated with a banner or banners
dreadful a.: Full of dread or terror; fearful.
dauntless a.: Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.
horrid a.: Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
joyless a.: Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
morn n.: The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
dreary a.: Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
unheard a.: Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
clime n.: A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
shalt: 2d per. sing. of Shall.
franklin n.: An English freeholder, or substantial householder. [OE. frankelein; cf. LL. franchilanus. See Frank, a.]
yonder adv.: At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
eden n.: The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
sapient a.: Wise; sage; discerning; -- often in irony or contempt. [L. sapiens, -entis, p.pr. of sapere to taste to have sense, to know. See Sage, a.]
admiring a.: Expressing admiration; as, an admiring glance.
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,]
beauteous a.: Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
vesper n.: The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
lesbian a.: Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.
orphean a.: Of or pertaining to Orpheus, the mythic poet and musician; as, Orphean strains.
deem v. t.: To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
impassioned p. p.: Actuated or characterized by passion or zeal; showing warmth of feeling; ardent; animated; excited; as, an impassioned orator or discourse.
generous a.: Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
hymenean a.: Of or pertaining to marriage; as, hymeneal rites. [L. hymeneius, a., also Hymenaeus, n., Hymen, Gr. hyménéal, hyménéen.]
dell n.: A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
wedded a.: Joined in wedlock; married.
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]
bloomy a.: Full of bloom; flowery; flourishing with the vigor of youth; as, a bloomy spray.
arcadian a.: Of or pertaining to Arcadia; pastoral; ideally rural; as, Arcadian simplicity or scenery. [L. Arcadius, Arcadicus, fr. Arcadia: cf. F. Arcadien, Arcadique.]
babe n.: An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
sire n.: A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
filial a.: Of or pertaining to a son or daughter; becoming to a child in relation to his parents; as, filial obedience. [L. filialis, fr. filius son, filia daughter; akin to e. female, feminine. Cf. Fitz.]
soothe v. t.: To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
aching a.: That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
ungenerous a.: Not generous; illiberal; ignoble; unkind; dishonorable.
mourner n.: One who mourns or is grieved at any misfortune, as the death of a friend.
reclined a.: Falling or turned downward; reclinate.
brighten v. t.: To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
cherub n.: A mysterious composite being, the winged footstool and chariot of the Almighty, described in Ezekiel i. and x. [Heb. kerub.]
endearing a.: Making dear or beloved; causing love.
mutely adv.: Without uttering words or sounds; in a mute manner; silently.
fondly adv.: Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
descry: , Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance.
guileless a.: Free from guile; artless.
unblest a.: Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
relume v. t.: To rekindle; to light again. [OF. relumer (cf. F. rallumer), L. reluminare; pref. re- re- + luminare to light. Cf. Reillume.]
dungeon n.: A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
hapless a.: Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
maniac a.: Raving with madness; raging with disordered intellect; affected with mania; mad. [F. maniaque. See Mania.]
spectatress n.: A female beholder or looker-on. [L. spectatrix.]
shroudless a.: Without a shroud.
corse n.: A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
amaze v. t.: To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Pref. a- + maze.]
aimless a.: Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
piled a.: Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
penury n.: Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. [L. penuria; cf. Gr. pénurie.]
glade n.: An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
boon n.: A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
blissful a.: Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
dismal a.: Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
tomahawk n.: A kind of war hatchet used by the American Indians. It was originally made of stone, but afterwards of iron. [Of American Indian origin; cf. Algonkin tomehagen, Mohegan tumnahegan, Delaware tamoihecan.]
thymy a.: Abounding with thyme; fragrant; as, a thymy vale. Akenside.
curfew n.: The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. [OE. courfew, curfu, fr. OF. cuevrefu, covrefeu, F. couvre-feu; covrir to cover + feu fire, fr. L. focus fireplace, hearth. See Cover, and Focus.]
twain a.: Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
pervade v. t.: To pass or flow through, as an aperture, pore, or interstice; to permeate. [L. pervadere, pervasum; per + vadere to go, to walk. See Per-, and Wade.]
awhile adv.: For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
whiskered a.: Formed into whiskers; furnished with whiskers; having or wearing whiskers.
tocsin n.: An alarm bell, or the ringing of a bell for the purpose of alarm. [F., fr. OF. toquier to touch, F. toquer (originally, a dialectic form of F. toucher) + seint (for sein) a bell, LL. signum, fr. L. signum a sign, signal. See To]
volleyed a.: Discharged with a sudden burst, or as if in a volley; as, volleyed thunder.
pitying a.: Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
nerveless a.: Destitute of nerves.
bade: A form of the pat tense of Bid.
went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
shook v. t.: To pack, as staves, in a shook.
smouldering a.: Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead.
zion n.: A hill in Jerusalem, which, after the capture of that city by the Israelites, became the royal residence of David and his successors. [Heb. tsiy, originally, a hill.]
pharaoh n.: A title by which the sovereigns of ancient Egypt were designated. [Heb. paroh; of Egyptian origin: cf. L. pharao, Gr. Faro.]
atone v. t.: To set at one; to reduce to concord; to reconcile, as parties at variance; to appease.
puissant a.: Powerful; strong; mighty; forcible; as, a puissant prince or empire. [F., originally, a p. pr. formed fr. L. posse to be able: cf. L. potens powerful. See Potent.]
starless a.: Being without stars; having no stars visible; as, a starless night.
desolation n.: The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
invidious a.: Envious; malignant. Evelyn. [L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Envious.]
presume v. t.: To assume or take beforehand; esp., to do or undertake without leave or authority previously obtained. [F. présumer, L. praesumere, praesumptum; prae before + sumere to take. See Assume, Redeem.]
unhallowed a.: Not consecrated; hence, profane; unholy; impious; wicked. [Pref. un- not + hallowed.]
unwearied a.: Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable.
lull v. t.: To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
admire v. t.: To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
theban a.: Of or pertaining to Thebes. Theban year (Anc. Chron.), the Egyptian year of 365 days and 6 hours. J. Bryant. [L. Thebanus.]
rapt n.: An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
historic a.: Of or pertaining to history, or the record of past events; as, an historical poem; the historic page. [L. historicus, Gr. historique. See History.]
ardour n.: Heat, in a literal sense; as, the ardor of the sun's rays. [L. ardor, fr. ardere to burn: cf. OF. ardor, ardur, F. ardeur.]
adore v. t.: To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
classic a.: Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
amid 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]
thracian a.: Of or pertaining to Thrace, or its people.
yore adv.: In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
sternly adv.: In a stern manner.
supernal a.: Being in a higher place or region; locally higher; as, the supernal orbs; supernal regions. [L. supernus, from super above: cf. F. supernel. See Super-.]
scan v. t.: To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
wealth n.: Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
fettered a.: Seeming as if fettered, as the feet pf certain animals which bend backward, and appear unfit for walking.
mould n.: Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
thankless a.: Not acknowledging favors; not expressing thankfulness; unthankful; ungrateful.
pittance n.: An allowance of food bestowed in charity; a mess of victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole. [OE. pitance, pitaunce, F. pitance; cf. It. pietanza, LL. pitancia, pittantia, pictantia; perh. fr. L. pietas pity, piety, or perhaps akin to E. petty. Cf. Petty]
scourge n.: A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
homeless a.: Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
quivered a.: Furnished with, or carrying, a quiver.
congo n.: Black tea, of higher grade (finer leaf and less dusty) than the present bohea. See Tea. [Chin. kung-foo labor.]
chartered a.: Granted or established by charter; having, or existing under, a charter; having a privilege by charter.
evermore adv.: During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
dirge n.: A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
resigned a.: Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur.
harbour n.: A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
spouse v. t.: To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
siberian a.: Of or pertaining to Siberia, a region comprising all northern Asia and belonging to Russia; as, a Siberian winter. [From Siberia, Russ. Sibire.]
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.]
sceptre n.: A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
swayed a.: Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
gory a.: Covered with gore or clotted blood. [From Gore.]
scimitar n.: A saber with a much curved blade having the edge on the convex side, -- in use among Mohammedans, esp., the Arabs and persians. [F. cimeterre, cf. It. scimitarra, Sp. cimitarra; fr. Biscayan cimetarry with a sharp edge; or corrupted from Per. shimshir.]
freeborn a.: Born free; not born in vasssalage; inheriting freedom.
route n.: The course or way which is traveled or passed, or is to be passed; a passing; a course; a road or path; a march. [OE. & F. route, OF. rote, fr. L. rupta (sc. via), fr. ruptus, p.p. of rumpere to break; hence, literally, a broken or beaten way or path. See Rout, and cf. Rut ]
despise v. t.: To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
teeming a.: Prolific; productive.
peopled a.: Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
brahmin n.: A person of the highest or sacerdotal caste among the Hindoos.
unerring a.: Committing no mistake; incapable or error or failure certain; sure; unfailing; as, the unerring wisdom of God.
bedew v. t.: To moisten with dew, or as with dew.
sunless a.: Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
oppressor n.: One who oppresses; one who imposes unjust burdens on others; one who harasses others with unjust laws or unreasonable severity. [L.]
whelm v. t.: To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf.
avatar n.: The descent of a deity to earth, and his incarnation as a man or an animal; -- chiefly associated with the incarnations of Vishnu. [Skr. avatâra descent; ava from + root t to cross, pass over.]
ganesa n.: The Hindoo god of wisdom or prudence.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Pleasures of Hope. Part I is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Pleasures of Hope. Part I, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/pleasures-of-hope-part-i.html, id L24397.

Form and metre

Pleasures of Hope. Part I is 604 lines in 59 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 96% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).

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 AABBCCDDEE--FF bow^A · below^A · eye^B · sky^B · appear^C · near^C · view^D · hue^D · survey^E · way^E · scene · been · repair^F · there^F
2 --AABBCCDDEEFFGG eye · futurity · power^A · hour^A · man^B · span^B · view^C · true^C · light^D · sight^D · way^E · play^E · band^F · command^F · steer^G · career^G
3 AABB--CCDD say^A · decay^A · woe^B · below^B · war · car · plain^C · again^C · mind^D · behind^D
4 AABB prepare^A · air^A · began^B · man^B
5 AABBCCDD grow^A · woe^A · hour^B · bower^B · wing^C · bring^C · play^D · away^D
6 AABBCCDD explore^A · shore^A · yields^B · fields^B · afar^C · star^C · unfurled^D · world^D
7 AABBCC smiles^A · isles^A · blow^B · snow^B · roar^C · shore^C
8 AABB storm^A · form^A · delay^B · away^B
9 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII keep^A · deep^A · pole^B · soul^B · climes^C · times^C · sail^D · vale^D · wind^E · behind^E · face^F · embrace^F · tear^G · dear^G · caressed^H · guest^H · roam^I · home^I
10 AABBCCDDEEFF hour^A · power^A · yields^B · fields^B · combine^C · line^C · soil^D · toil^D · high^E · eye^E · come^F · drum^F
11 AABBCCDDEEFFGGAAHHII bore^A · shore^A · sweep^B · deep^B · shock^C · rock^C · again^D · men^D · storm^E · form^E · pursued^F · unsubdued^F · afar^G · star^G · before^A · shore^A · sublime^H · clime^H · defend^I · friend^I
12 AA--BBCCDDEEFF power^A · hour^A · hand · wand · proclaim^B · fame^B · afar^C · star^C · apply^D · eye^D · profound^E · sound^E · wing^F · string^F
13 AABBCC bowers^A · flowers^A · train^B · plain^B · came^C · name^C
14 AABBCCDD clime^A · sublime^A · eye^B · high^B · page^C · sage^C · span^D · man^D
15 AABBCCDD eye^A · nigh^A · height^B · light^B · swell^C · shell^C · flow^D · below^D
16 AABBCCDDEE shed^A · head^A · unconfined^B · mind^B · beneath^C · heath^C · came^D · name^D · tell^E · hell^E
17 AABBCCDDEE hue^A · dew^A · employ^B · joy^B · recall^C · fall^C · impart^D · heart^D · strain^E · vain^E
18 AABBCC deem^A · stream^A · beguile^B · smile^B · relief^C · grief^C
19 AAAABBCCDDEE given^A · heaven^A · stone^A · own^A · command^B · hand^B · earth^C · birth^C · afford^D · accord^D · plan^E · man^E
20 AABBCC command^A · land^A · afar^B · star^B · divine^C · thine^C
21 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH----IIJJ annoy^A · joy^A · dell^B · dwell^B · fame^C · same^C · bestow^D · know^D · store^E · more^E · assuage^F · age^F · distil^G · hill^G · away^H · grey^H · build · field · breathe · heath · endears^I · years^I · hour^J · bower^J
22 AABBCCDDEEFFGG sleeps^A · keeps^A · lies^B · eyes^B · joy^C · boy^C · thine^D · mine^D · be^E · he^E · last^F · past^F · repay^G · away^G
23 AABBCCDDEE thee^A · tree^A · appear^B · near^B · shed^C · bed^C · reclined^D · behind^D · low^E · woe^E
24 AABBCCDDEEFFA- eye^A · reply^A · claim^B · name^B · prove^C · love^C · care^D · prayer^D · hear^E · ear^E · while^F · smile^F · descry^A · sympathy
25 AABBCCDDEE share^A · care^A · stray^B · day^B · relume^C · gloom^C · restored^D · board^D · flow^E · woe^E
26 AAB-CCBBDDEEFFGG destroy^A · joy^A · pour^B · hour · gale^C · sail^C · shore^B · bore^B · amaze^D · gaze^D · vain^E · brain^E · woe^F · bestow^F · beam^G · dream^G
27 AABBCC sky^A · cry^A · burn^B · return^B · weep^C · deep^C
28 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ knew^A · untrue^A · bore^B · more^B · eye^C · by^C · roam^D · home^D · stray^E · way^E · seen^F · green^F · while^G · smile^G · form^H · storm^H · assign^I · mine^I · care^J · prayer^J
29 AABBCC mind^A · kind^A · see^B · be^B · plan^C · man^C
30 AABBCCDDEEFFGG time^A · clime^A · explore^B · shore^B · along^C · song^C · walk^D · tomahawk^D · stray^E · day^E · glen^F · men^F · around^G · profound^G
31 AABB done^A · sun^A · profane^B · twain^B
32 AABBCCDDEE roam^A · home^A · pines^B · mines^B · there^C · despair^C · load^D · bestowed^D · burns^E · returns^E
33 AA--BBCC awhile^A · smile^A · wars · hussars · morn^B · horn^B · van^C · man^C
34 AABBCCDD surveyed^A · laid^A · save^B · brave^B · plains^C · remains^C · high^D · die^D
35 AABBCCDD arrayed^A · undismayed^A · form^B · storm^B · fly^C · reply^C · charm^D · alarm^D
36 AABBCCDDEE few^A · flew^A · time^B · crime^B · foe^C · woe^C · spear^D · career^D · farewell^E · fell^E
37 AABBCCDDEE there^A · air^A · glow^B · below^B · way^C · dismay^C · fall^D · call^D · sky^E · cry^E
38 AABBCCDDEE grave^A · save^A · rod^B · god^B · car^C · afar^C · host^D · coast^D · flow^E · below^E
39 AABBCCDD dead^A · bled^A · man^B · van^B · atone^C · own^C · return^D · bannockburn^D
40 AABB--CC see^A · free^A · plains^B · reigns^B · given · heaven · hurled^C · world^C
41 AABBCCDDEE mark^A · dark^A · view^B · untrue^B · span^C · man^C · shrine^D · divine^D · here^E · career^E
42 AABBCC ring^A · spring^A · asleep^B · deep^B · hand^C · command^C
43 AABBCC allow^A · brow^A · furled^B · world^B · belied^C · died^C
44 AABBCCDDEEFFCCGGHHII fame^A · name^A · admire^B · lyre^B · adore^C · shore^C · throng^D · song^D · charms^E · arms^E · swell^F · tell^F · yore^C · more^C · die^G · eye^G · calls^H · falls^H · alarm^I · arm^I
45 AABB strong^A · song^A · away^B · decay^B
46 AABBCCDD trust^A · dust^A · earth^B · worth^B · day^C · play^C · glow^D · below^D
47 AABBCCDDEE scan^A · man^A · shame^B · name^B · hands^C · bands^C · soil^D · toil^D · see^E · free^E
48 AABBCC day^A · away^A · bleed^B · deed^B · save^C · slave^C
49 AABBCCDDEEFFGG hand^A · land^A · call^B · all^B · thee^C · knee^C · toil^D · soil^D · gold^E · mould^E · urge^F · scourge^F · deep^G · weep^G
50 AABBCCDD plain^A · reign^A · sky^B · eye^B · zone^C · own^C · plan^D · man^D
51 AABBCCDD smiles^A · isles^A · now^B · brow^B · away^C · day^C · evermore^D · shore^D
52 AABBCCDD knell^A · farewell^A · resigned^B · mind^B · low^C · woe^C · there^D · despair^D
53 AA-- expires^A · fires^A · sigh · liberty
54 AABBCCDDEE--FFGGHH alone^A · zone^A · eye^B · sigh^B · run^C · sun^C · obeyed^D · swayed^D · plain^E · main^E · bare · scimitar · gale^F · vale^F · tame^G · name^G · power^H · hour^H
55 AABBCCDDEEFF gain^A · main^A · shape^B · cape^B · nigh^C · dye^C · save^D · wave^D · true^E · you^E · began^F · van^F
56 AABBCCDDEE zone^A · own^A · despise^B · cries^B · store^C · shore^C · bear^D · despair^D · name^E · shame^E
57 AABBCC kneels^A · peals^A · tell^B · shell^B · mind^C · wind^C
58 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII say^A · day^A · you^B · bedew^B · hurled^C · world^C · frame^D · came^D · vain^E · again^E · sky^F · high^F · form^G · storm^G · glow^H · below^H · bed^I · tread^I
59 AABB--CCBB realm^A · whelm^A · shore^B · before^B · command · wand · sublime^C · clime^C · restore^B · evermore^B

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
At summer eve, when Heaven’s ethereal bow	11	·/˘··/˘˘/˘·
Spans with bright arch the glittering hills below,	10	·····/˘···
Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky?	10	···/˘/˘···
Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appear	10	·····/˘·˘/
More sweet than all the landscape smiling near?—	10	·····/·/˘·
’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Thus, with delight we linger to survey	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
The promised joys of life’s unmeasured way;	10	·/˘·······
Thus, from afar, each dim-discovered scene	10	··˘/··˘/˘·
More pleasing seems than all the past hath been;	10	·/˘·······
And every form, that Fancy can repair	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.	10	··˘/˘·˘/˘·
What potent spirit guides the raptured eye	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
To pierce the shades of dim futurity?	10	······˘/˘˘
Can Wisdom lend, with all her heavenly power,	10	·/˘····/˘/
The pledge of Joy’s anticipated hour?	11	····˘/˘·˘/˘
Ah, no! she darkly sees the fate of man—	10	···/˘·····
Her dim horizon bounded to a span;	10	··˘/˘/˘···
Or, if she hold an image to the view,	10	·····/˘···
’Tis Nature pictured too severely true.	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
With thee, sweet HOPE! resides the heavenly light,	10	····˘/·/˘·
That pours remotest rapture on the sight:	10	··˘/˘/˘···
Thine is the charm of life’s bewildered way,	10	······˘/˘·
That calls each slumbering passion into play.	10	···/˘/˘···
Waked by thy touch, I see the sister band,	10	·······/˘·
On tiptoe watching, start at thy command,	10	·/·/˘···˘/
And fly where’er thy mandate bids them steer,	11	··˘˘/·/····
To Pleasure’s path, or Glory’s bright career.	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
Primeval HOPE, the Aönian Muses say,	10	˘/˘····/˘·
When Man and Nature mourned their first decay;	10	···/˘···˘/
When every form of death, and every woe,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Shot from malignant stars to earth below,	10	··˘/˘·····
When Murder bared her arm, and rampant War	10	·/˘····/˘·
Yoked the red dragons of her iron car,	10	···/˘··/˘·
When Peace and Mercy, banished from the plain,	10	···/˘/˘···
Sprung on the viewless winds to heaven again;	10	···/˘··/˘/
All all forsook the friendless guilty mind,	10	··˘/·/˘/˘·
But HOPE, the charmer, lingered still behind.	10	···/˘/˘···
Thus, while Elijah’s burning wheels prepare	10	··˘/˘/˘·˘/
From Carmel’s heights to sweep the fields of air.	10	·˘/·······
The prophet’s mantle, ere his flight began,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Dropt on the world—a sacred gift to man.	10	·····/˘···
Auspicious HOPE! in thy sweet garden grow	10	˘/˘····/˘·
Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe;	10	·······/˘·
Won by their sweets, in Nature’s languid hour,	11	·····/˘/˘/˘
The way-worn pilgrim seeks thy summer bower;	11	···/˘··/˘/˘
There, as the wild bee murmurs on the wing,	10	·····/˘···
What peaceful dreams thy handmaid spirits bring!	10	·/˘····/˘·
What viewless forms the Æolian organ play,	10	·/˘····/˘·
And sweep the furrowed lines of anxious thought away.	12	···/˘··/˘·˘/
Angel of life! thy glittering wings explore	10	/˘···/˘·˘/
Earth’s loneliest bounds, and Ocean’s wildest shore.	11	······/˘/˘·
Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yields	10	···/˘··/˘·
His bark careering o’er unfathomed fields;	10	··˘/˘·····
Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar,	10	··˘/˘···˘/
Where Andes, giant of the western star,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
With meteor-standard to the winds unfurled,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Looks from his throne of clouds o’er half the world!	10	··········
Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles,	10	·······/˘·
On Behring’s rocks, or Greenland’s naked isles:	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow,	10	···/···/˘·
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow;	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
And waft, across the wave’s tumultuous roar,	10	··˘/···/˘·
The wolf’s long howl from Oonalaska’s shore.	10	··········
Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,	10	···/˘/˘···
Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!	10	·······/˘·
Rocks, waves, and winds, the shattered bark delay;	10	·····/˘·˘/
Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.	10	········˘/
But HOPE can here her moonlight vigils keep,	10	·····/·/˘·
And sing to charm the spirit of the deep:	10	·····/˘···
Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Her visions warm the watchman’s pensive soul;	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
His native hills that rise in happier climes,	10	·/˘····/˘·
The grot that heard his song of other times,	10	·······/˘·
His cottage home, his bark of slender sail,	10	·/˘····/˘·
His glassy lake, and broomwood-blossomed vale,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Rush on his thought; he sweeps before the wind,	10	··········
Treads the loved shore he sighed to leave behind;	10	··········
Meets at each step a friend’s familiar face,	10	······˘/˘·
And flies at last to Helen’s long embrace;	10	·····/˘·˘/
Wipes from her cheek the rapture-speaking tear,	10	·····/˘/˘·
And clasps, with many a sigh, his children dear!	10	···/···/˘·
While, long neglected, but at length caressed,	10	··˘/˘···˘/
His faithful dog salutes the smiling guest,	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
Points to the master’s eyes (where’er they roam)	11	···/˘·˘˘/··
His wistful face, and whines a welcome home.	10	·/˘····/˘·
Friend of the brave! in peril’s darkest hour,	11	·····/˘/˘/˘
Intrepid Virtue looks to thee for power;	11	˘/˘/˘····/˘
To thee the heart its trembling homage yields,	10	·····/˘/˘·
On stormy floods, and carnage-covered fields,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
When front to front the bannered hosts combine,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Halt ere they close, and form the dreadful line.	10	·······/˘·
When all is still on Death’s devoted soil,	10	······˘/˘·
The march-worn soldier mingles for the toil;	10	···/˘/˘···
As rings his glittering tube, he lifts on high	10	···/˘·····
The dauntless brow, and spirit-speaking eye,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Hails in his heart the triumph yet to come,	10	·····/˘···
And hears thy stormy music in the drum!	10	···/˘/˘···
And such thy strength-inspiring aid that bore	10	····˘/˘···
The hardy Byron to his native shore—	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
In horrid climes, where Chiloe’s tempests sweep	9	·/˘···/˘·
Tumultuous murmurs o’er the troubled deep,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
’Twas his to mourn Misfortune’s rudest shock,	10	····˘/˘/˘·
Scourged by the winds, and cradled on the rock,	10	·····/˘···
To wake each joyless morn, and search again	10	···/˘···˘/
The famished haunts of solitary men;	10	·····/˘·˘·
Whose race, unyielding as their native storm,	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Know not a trace of Nature but the form;	10	·····/˘···
Yet, at thy call, the hardy tar pursued,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Pale, but intrepid—sad, but unsubdued,	10	··˘/˘····˘
Pierced the deep woods, and hailing from afar	10	·····/˘·˘/
The moon’s pale planet and the northern star,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Paused at each dreary cry, unheard before,	10	···/˘·˘/··
Hyænas in the wild, and mermaids on the shore;	11	······/····
Till, led by thee o’er many a cliff sublime,	10	·····/··˘/
He found a warmer world, a milder clime,	10	···/˘··/˘·
A home to rest, a shelter to defend,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Peace and repose, a Briton and a friend!	10	··˘/·/˘···
Congenial HOPE! thy passion-kindling power,	11	˘/˘··/˘/˘/˘
How bright, how strong, in youth’s untroubled hour!	11	······˘/˘/˘
On yon proud height, with Genius hand in hand,	10	·····/˘···
I see thee light, and wave thy golden wand.	10	·······/˘·
“Go, child of Heaven! (thy wingèd words proclaim)	10	···/˘···˘/
’Tis thine to search the boundless fields of fame?	10	·····/˘···
Lo! Newton, priest of nature, shines afar,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
Scans the wide world, and numbers every star!	10	·····/˘/˘·
Wilt thou, with him, mysterious rites apply,	10	····˘/˘·˘/
And watch the shrine with wonder-beaming eye!	10	·····/˘/˘·
Yes, thou shalt mark, with magic art profound,	10	·····/˘·˘/
The speed of light, the circling march of sound;	10	·····/˘···
With Franklin grasp the lightning’s fiery wing,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Or yield the lyre of Heaven another string.	10	·····/˘/˘·
“The Swedish sage admires, in yonder bowers,	11	·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘
His winged insects, and his rosy flowers;	10	··/···/˘/˘
Calls from their woodland haunts the savage train	10	···/···/˘·
With sounding horn, and counts them on the plain—	10	·/˘·······
So once, at Heaven’s command, the wanderers came	11	···/˘˘/·/˘·
To Eden’s shade, and heard their various name.	10	·/˘····/˘·
“Far from the world, in yon sequestered clime,	10	······˘/˘·
Slow pass the sons of Wisdom more sublime;	10	·····/˘·˘/
Calm as the fields of Heaven his sapient eye	11	·····/·/˘˘·
The loved Athenian lifts to realms on high,	10	··˘/˘·····
Admiring Plato, on his spotless page,	10	˘/˘/˘··/˘·
Stamps the bright dictates of the Father sage:	10	···/···/˘·
‘Shall nature bound to earth’s diurnal span	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
The fire of God, the immortal soul of man?’	11	·/···˘/˘···
“Turn, child of Heaven, thy rapture-lightened eye	10	···/·/˘/˘·
To Wisdom’s walks, the sacred Nine are nigh:	10	·/˘··/˘···
Hark! from bright spires that gild the Delphian height,	10	·······/˘·
From streams that wander in eternal light,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
Ranged on their hill, Harmonia’s daughters swell	10	····˘/˘/˘·
The mingling tones of horn, and harp, and shell;	10	·/˘·······
Deep from his vaults, the Loxian murmurs flow,	10	·······/˘·
And Pythia’s awful organ peals below.	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
“Beloved of Heaven! the smiling Muse shall shed	10	˘/·/·/˘···
Her moonlight halo on thy beauteous head;	11	·/·/˘··/˘˘·
Shall swell thy heart to rapture unconfined,	10	·····/˘·˘/
And breathe a holy madness o’er thy mind.	10	···/˘/˘···
I see thee roam her guardian power beneath,	10	·····/˘/··
And talk with spirits on the midnight heath;	10	···/˘··/··
Enquire of guilty wanderers whence they came,	10	˘/·/˘/˘···
And ask each blood-stained form his earthly name;	10	·······/˘·
Then weave in rapid verse the deeds they tell,	10	···/˘·····
And read the trembling world the tales of hell.	10	···/˘·····
“When Venus, throned in clouds of rosy hue,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Flings from her golden urn the vesper dew,	10	···/˘··/˘·
And bids fond man her glimmering noon employ,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Sacred to love, and walks of tender joy;	10	/˘·····/˘·
A milder mood the goddess shall recall,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
And soft as dew thy tones of music fall;	10	·······/˘·
While Beauty’s deeply-pictured smiles impart	10	·/˘/˘/˘·˘/
A pang more dear than pleasure to the heart—	10	·····/˘···
Warm as thy sighs shall flow the Lesbian strain,	10	·······/˘·
And plead in Beauty’s ear, nor plead in vain.	10	···/˘·····
“Or wilt thou Orphean hymns more sacred deem,	11	···˘/˘··/˘·
And steep thy song in Mercy’s mellow stream;	10	·····/˘/˘·
To pensive drops the radiant eye beguile—	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
For Beauty’s tears are lovelier than her smile;—	11	·/˘········
On Nature’s throbbing anguish pour relief	10	·/˘/˘/˘·˘/
And teach impassioned souls the joy of grief?	10	··˘/˘·····
“Yes; to thy tongue shall seraph words be given,	11	·····/˘··/˘
And power on earth to plead the cause of Heaven;	11	·/·······/˘
The proud, the cold untroubled heart of stone,	10	····˘/˘···
That never mused on sorrow but its own,	10	·/˘··/˘···
Unlocks a generous store at thy command,	10	˘/·/˘···˘/
Like Horeb’s rocks beneath the prophet’s hand.	10	·······/˘·
The living lumber of his kindred earth,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Charmed into soul, receives a second birth,	10	····˘/·/˘·
Feels thy dread power another heart afford,	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Whose passion-touched harmonious strings accord	10	·/˘·˘/˘·˘/
True as the circling spheres to Nature’s plan;	10	···/˘··/˘·
And man, the brother, lives the friend of man.	10	···/˘·····
“Bright as the pillar rose at Heaven’s command,	11	···/˘··/˘˘/
When Israel marched along the desert land,	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
Blazed through the night on lonely wilds afar,	10	·····/˘·˘/
And told the path,—a never-setting star:	10	·····/˘/˘·
So, heavenly Genius, in thy course divine,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
HOPE is thy star, her light is ever thine.”	10	·······/˘·
Propitious Power! when rankling cares annoy	10	˘/˘/·/˘·˘/
The sacred home of Hymenean joy;	10	·/˘˘······
When doomed to Poverty’s sequestered dell,	10	···/˘˘˘/˘·
The wedded pair of love and virtue dwell,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Unpitied by the world, unknown to fame,	10	˘/˘···˘/··
Their woes, their wishes, and their hearts the same—	10	···/˘·····
Oh, there, prophetic HOPE! thy smile bestow,	10	··˘/˘···˘/
And chase the pangs that worth should never know—	10	·······/˘·
There, as the parent deals his scanty store	10	···/˘··/˘·
To friendless babes, and weeps to give no more,	10	·/˘·······
Tell, that his manly race shall yet assuage	10	···/˘···˘/
Their father’s wrongs, and shield his latter age.	10	·/˘····/˘·
What though for him no Hybla sweets distil,	10	········˘/
Nor bloomy vines wave purple on the hill;	10	·/˘··/˘···
Tell, that when silent years have passed away,	10	···/˘···˘/
That when his eye grows dim, his tresses grey,	10	·······/˘·
These busy hands a lovelier cot shall build,	11	·/˘········
And deck with fairer flowers his little field,	10	···/˘/·/˘·
And call from Heaven propitious dews to breathe	10	···/˘/˘···
Arcadian beauty on the barren heath;	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Tell, that while Love’s spontaneous smile endears	10	····˘/˘·˘/
The days of peace, the sabbath of his years,	10	·····/˘···
Health shall prolong to many a festive hour	11	··˘/·/·/˘/˘
The social pleasures of his humble bower.	11	·/˘/˘··/˘/˘
Lo! at the couch where infant beauty sleeps,	10	·····/˘/˘·
Her silent watch the mournful mother keeps;	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
She, while the lovely babe unconscious lies,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Smiles on her slumbering child with pensive eyes,	10	···/˘··/˘·
And weaves a song of melancholy joy—	10	·····/˘·˘·
“Sleep, image of thy father, sleep, my boy:	10	·/˘··/˘···
No lingering hour of sorrow shall be thine;	10	·/˘/·/˘···
No sigh that rends thy father’s heart and mine;	10	·····/˘···
Bright as his manly sire the son shall be	10	···/˘/····
In form and soul; but, ah! more blest than he!	10	··········
Thy fame, thy worth, thy filial love, at last,	10	·····/˘···
Shall soothe his aching heart for all the past—	10	···/˘·····
With many a smile my solitude repay,	10	·/···/˘·˘/
And chase the world’s ungenerous scorn away.	11	····˘/˘˘·˘/
“And say, when summoned from the world and thee,	10	···/˘·····
I lay my head beneath the willow tree,	10	·······/··
Wilt thou, sweet mourner! at my stone appear,	10	···/˘···˘/
And soothe my parted spirit lingering near?	10	···/˘//˘˘·
Oh, wilt thou come, at evening hour to shed	10	·····/˘/··
The tears of Memory o’er my narrow bed;	10	···/˘··/˘·
With aching temples on thy hand reclined,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Muse on the last farewell I leave behind,	10	·····/····
Breathe a deep sigh to winds that murmur low,	10	·······/˘·
And think on all my love, and all my woe?”	10	··········
So speaks affection, ere the infant eye	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Can look regard, or brighten in reply;	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
But when the cherub lip hath learnt to claim	10	···/˘·····
A mother’s ear by that endearing name;	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
Soon as the playful innocent can prove	10	···/˘/˘˘··
A tear of pity, or a smile of love,	10	···/˘·····
Or cons his murmuring task beneath her care,	10	···/˘·····
Or lisps with holy look his evening prayer,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Or gazing, mutely pensive, sits to hear	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
The mournful ballad warbled in his ear;	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
How fondly looks admiring HOPE the while,	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
At every artless tear, and every smile!	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
How glows the joyous parent to descry	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
A guileless bosom, true to sympathy!	10	·/˘/˘··/˘˘
Where is the troubled heart, consigned to share	10	···/˘·˘/··
Tumultuous toils, or solitary care,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘·
Unblest by visionary thoughts that stray	10	···/˘·˘···
To count the joys of Fortune’s better day!	10	·····/˘/˘·
Lo, nature, life, and liberty relume	10	·/˘··/˘˘˘/
The dim-eyed tenant of the dungeon gloom,	10	···/˘··/˘·
A long-lost friend, or hapless child restored,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Smiles at his blazing hearth and social board;	10	···/˘··/˘·
Warm from his heart the tears of rapture flow,	10	·······/˘·
And virtue triumphs o’er remembered woe.	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
Chide not his peace, proud Reason! nor destroy	10	·····/˘·˘/
The shadowy forms of uncreated joy,	10	·/˘˘······
That urge the lingering tide of life, and pour	10	···/˘·····
Spontaneous slumber on his midnight hour.	10	˘/˘/˘··/·/
Hark! the wild maniac sings, to chide the gale	11	···/˘······
That wafts so slow her lover’s distant sail;	10	·····/˘/˘·
She, sad spectatress, on the wintry shore	10	·······/˘·
Watched the rude surge his shroudless corse that bore,	10	·····/˘···
Knew the pale form, and, shrieking in amaze,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Clasped her cold hands, and fixed her maddening gaze	10	·······/˘·
Poor widowed wretch! ’twas there she wept in vain,	10	·/˘·······
Till Memory fled her agonizing brain;—	10	·/˘··/˘˘˘·
But Mercy gave, to charm the sense of woe,	10	·/˘·······
Ideal peace, that truth could ne’er bestow;	9	˘/·····˘/
Warm on her heart the joys of Fancy beam,	10	·······/˘·
And aimless HOPE delights her darkest dream.	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
Oft when yon moon has climbed the midnight sky,	10	·······/··
And the lone sea-bird wakes its wildest cry,	10	·······/˘·
Piled on the steep, her blazing faggots burn	10	·····/˘/˘·
To hail the bark that never can return;	10	·····/˘·˘/
And still she waits, but scarce forbears to weep	10	··········
That constant love can linger on the deep.	10	·/˘··/˘···
And, mark the wretch, whose wanderings never knew	10	·····/˘˘/·
The world’s regard, that soothes, though half untrue,	10	··˘/····˘/
Whose erring heart the lash of sorrow bore,	10	·/˘····/˘·
But found not pity when it erred no more.	10	···/˘·····
Yon friendless man, at whose dejected eye	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
The unfeeling proud one looks—and passes by,	11	·˘/˘····/˘·
Condemned on Penury’s barren path to roam,	10	˘/·/˘/˘···
Scorned by the world, and left without a home—	10	··········
Even he, at evening, should he chance to stray	10	/··/˘·····
Down by the hamlet’s hawthorn-scented way,	10	···/˘/·/˘·
Where, round the cot’s romantic glade, are seen	10	····˘/˘···
The blossomed bean-field, and the sloping green,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Leans o’er its humble gate, and thinks the while—	10	···/˘·····
Oh! that for me some home like this would smile,	10	··········
Some hamlet shade, to yield my sickly form	10	·/˘····/˘·
Health in the breeze, and shelter in the storm!	10	·····/˘···
There should my hand no stinted boon assign	10	·····/˘·˘/
To wretched hearts with sorrow such as mine!—	10	·/˘··/˘···
That generous wish can soothe unpitied care,	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
And HOPE half mingles with the poor man’s prayer.	10	···/˘·····
HOPE! when I mourn, with sympathising mind,	10	·····/˘·˘·
The wrongs of fate, the woes of human kind,	10	·······/˘·
Thy blissful omens bid my spirit see	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
The boundless fields of rapture yet to be;	10	·/˘··/˘···
I watch the wheels of Nature’s mazy plan,	10	·····/˘/˘·
And learn the future by the past of man.	10	···/˘·····
Come, bright Improvement! on the car of Time,	10	··˘/˘·····
And rule the spacious world from clime to clime,	10	···/˘·····
Thy handmaid arts shall every wild explore,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Trace every wave, and culture every shore.	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
On Erie’s banks, where tigers steal along,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
And the dread Indian chaunts a dismal song,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Where human fiends on midnight errands walk,	10	·/˘··/·/˘·
And bathe in brains the murderous tomahawk,	10	·····/˘/˘·
There shall the flocks on thymy pasture stray,	10	·····/˘/˘·
And shepherds dance at Summer’s opening day;	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Each wandering genius of the lonely glen	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Shall start to view the glittering haunts of men,	10	·····/˘···
And silence watch, on woodland heights around,	10	·/˘··/····
The village curfew as it tolls profound.	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
In Lybian groves, where damnèd rites are done,	9	·········
That bathe the rocks in blood, and veil the sun,	10	··········
Truth shall arrest the murderous arm profane,	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
Wild Obi flies—the veil is rent in twain.	10	·/˘·······
Where barbarous hordes on Scythian mountains roam	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Truth, Mercy, Freedom, yet shall find a home;	10	·/˘/˘·····
Where’er degraded Nature bleeds and pines,	11	˘˘/˘/˘/˘···
From Guinea’s coast to Sibir’s dreary mines,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Truth shall pervade the unfathomed darkness there,	11	··˘/····/˘·
And light the dreadful features of despair.	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Hark! the stern captive spurns his heavy load,	10	···/˘··/˘·
And asks the image back that Heaven bestowed!	10	···/˘··/˘/
Fierce in his eye the fire of valour burns,	10	·····/·/˘·
And, as the slave departs, the man returns.	10	····˘/··˘/
Oh! sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased awhile,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
And HOPE, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile,	10	···/˘·····
When leagued Oppression poured to Northern wars	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Her whiskered pandoors and her fierce hussars,	10	·/˘·····/˘
Waved her dread standard to the breeze of morn,	10	···/˘·····
Pealed her loud drum, and twanged her trumpet horn;	10	·······/˘·
Tumultuous horror brooded o’er her van,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Presaging wrath to Poland—and to man!	10	/˘˘··/˘···
Warsaw’s last champion from her height surveyed,	10	/··/˘···˘/
Wide o’er the fields, a waste of ruin laid,—	10	·······/˘·
“Oh! Heaven!” he cried, “my bleeding country save!—	10	·/···/˘/˘·
Is there no hand on high to shield the brave?	10	··········
Yet, though destruction sweep those lovely plains,	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Rise, fellow-men! our country yet remains!	10	·/˘·//˘·˘/
By that dread name, we wave the sword on high!	10	··········
And swear for her to live!—with her to die!”	10	··········
He said, and on the rampart-heights arrayed	10	·····/˘·˘/
His trusty warriors, few, but undismayed;	10	·/˘/˘˘····
Firm-paced and slow, a horrid front they form,	10	·····/˘···
Still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm;	10	·····/˘···
Low murmuring sounds along their banners fly,	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
Revenge, or death,—the watch-word and reply;	10	˘/······˘/
Then pealed the notes, omnipotent to charm,	10	····˘/˘˘··
And the loud tocsin tolled their last alarm!—	10	···/˘···˘/
In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few!	10	··˘/···/˘·
From rank to rank your volleyed thunder flew:—	10	·····/˘/˘·
Oh, bloodiest picture in the book of Time,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime;	10	··········
Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe!	10	·····/˘···
Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Closed her bright eye, and curbed her high career;—	10	········˘/
HOPE, for a season, bade the world farewell,	10	···/˘····/
And Freedom shrieked—as KOSCIUSKO fell!	10	·/˘·˘·····
The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there,	10	·······/˘·
Tumultuous murder shook the midnight air—	10	·/˘/˘··/··
On Prague’s proud arch the fires of ruin glow,	10	·····/·/˘·
His blood-dyed waters murmuring far below;	10	···/˘/˘···
The storm prevails, the rampart yields a way,	10	··˘/·/˘···
Bursts the wide cry of horror and dismay!	10	·····/˘·˘/
Hark! as the smouldering piles with thunder fall,	11	········/˘·
A thousand shrieks for hopeless mercy call!	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Earth shook—red meteors flashed along the sky,	10	···/˘·˘/··
And conscious Nature shuddered at the cry!	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Oh! righteous Heaven! ere Freedom found a grave,	10	·/˘/·/˘···
Why slept the sword, omnipotent to save?	10	····˘/˘˘··
Where was thine arm, O Vengeance! where thy rod,	10	·····/˘···
That smote the foes of Zion and of God;	10	·····/˘···
That crushed proud Ammon, when his iron car	10	···/˘··/˘·
Was yoked in wrath, and thundered from afar?	10	·····/˘·˘/
Where was the storm that slumbered till the host	10	·····/˘···
Of blood-stained Pharaoh left their trembling coast;	10	···/˘··/˘·

The first 400 of 604 lines; the reader marks them all.

Notes from the edition 15

The editorial notes to The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell (Project Gutenberg #59788), 106 bracket-numbered notes.

Stanza 4, line 2 An error of the poet’s: Elijah did not ascend from Carmel, but from the eastern side of Jordan.—(See 2 KINGS ii. 7-11.)
Stanza 11, line 2 See Narrative of Byron’s Shipwreck.—Notes at end of Volume.
Stanza 11, line 20 A Briton and a friend.—Don Patricio Gedd, a Scotch physician in one of the Spanish settlements, hospitably relieved Byron and his wretched associates, of which the commodore speaks in the warmest terms of gratitude.
Stanza 12, line 14 The seven strings of Apollo’s harp were the symbolical representation of the seven planets. Herschell, by discovering an eighth, might be said to add another string to the instrument.
Stanza 13, line 1 Linnæus, the famous Swedish Botanist.
Stanza 14, line 6 Socrates.
Stanza 15, line 7 Deep from his vaults, the Loxian murmurs flow.—Loxias is the name frequently given to Apollo by Greek writers; it is met with more than once in the Chœphoræ of Æschylus.
Stanza 19, line 6 EXODUS xvii. 3, 5, 6.
Stanza 31, line 4 The superstition of the African savages.—See Notes.
Stanza 32, line 4 Siberia.—See Notes.
Stanza 52, line 1 The negroes in the West Indies were summoned to their work by a shell or horn.
Stanza 55, line 4 See the description of the Cape of Good Hope, translated from Camoens by Mickle.
Stanza 59, line 6 The oriental Minerva.
Stanza 59, line 7 The god of Love.
Stanza 59, line 7 Ganesa answers to Janus.

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.

More by Thomas Campbell

Poems The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems