Ode to Pity
O thou, the friend of man, assign'dWith balmy hands his wounds to bind,And charm his frantic woe:When first Distress, with dagger keen,Broke forth to waste his destined scene,His wild unsated foe!
By Pella's bard, a magic name,By all the griefs his thought could frame,Receive my humble rite:The sky-worn robes of tenderest blue,And eyes of dewy light!
But wherefore need I wander wideTo old Ilissus' distant side,Deserted stream, and mute?Wild Arun too has heard thy strains,And Echo, 'midst my native plains,Been soothed by Pity's lute.
There first the wren thy myrtles shedOn gentlest Otway's infant head,To him thy cell was shown;And while he sung the female heart,With youth's soft notes unspoil'd by art,Thy turtles mix'd their own.
E'en now my thoughts, relenting maid,Thy temple's pride design:Its southern site, its truth complete,Shall raise a wild enthusiast heatIn all who view the shrine.
There Picture's toils shall well relateHow chance, or hard involving fate,O'er mortal bliss prevail:The buskin'd Muse shall near her stand,And sighing prompt her tender hand,With each disastrous tale.
There let me oft, retired by day,In dreams of passion melt away,Allow'd with thee to dwell:There waste the mournful lamp of night,Till, Virgin, thou again delightTo hear a British shell!
Words in this poem
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- 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,]
- disastrous a.
- Full of unpropitious stellar influences; unpropitious; ill-boding. [Cf. F. désastreux. See Disaster.]
- 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
Ode to Pity is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Collins; With a Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #29879; 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 Collins, Ode to Pity, in Poetical Works (1746), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29879, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/collins-poems/ode-to-pity.html, id L13342.
Form and metre
Ode to Pity is 40 lines in 7 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 15% 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 AABCCB assign'dA · bindA · woeB · keenC · sceneC · foeB
- 2 AAB-B nameA · frameA · riteB · blue · lightB
- 3 AABCCB wideA · sideA · muteB · strainsC · plainsC · luteB
- 4 AABCCB shedA · headA · shownB · heartC · artC · ownB
- 5 -ABBA maid · designA · completeB · heatB · shrineA
- 6 AABCCB relateA · fateA · prevailB · standC · handC · taleB
- 7 AABCCB dayA · awayA · dwellB · nightC · delightC · shellB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O thou, the friend of man, assign'd | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With balmy hands his wounds to bind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And charm his frantic woe: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When first Distress, with dagger keen, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Broke forth to waste his destined scene, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| His wild unsated foe! | 6 | ······ |
| By Pella's bard, a magic name, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By all the griefs his thought could frame, | 8 | ········ |
| Receive my humble rite: | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| The sky-worn robes of tenderest blue, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And eyes of dewy light! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But wherefore need I wander wide | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To old Ilissus' distant side, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Deserted stream, and mute? | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Wild Arun too has heard thy strains, | 8 | ········ |
| And Echo, 'midst my native plains, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Been soothed by Pity's lute. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There first the wren thy myrtles shed | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On gentlest Otway's infant head, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| To him thy cell was shown; | 6 | ······ |
| And while he sung the female heart, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| With youth's soft notes unspoil'd by art, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Thy turtles mix'd their own. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| E'en now my thoughts, relenting maid, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thy temple's pride design: | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Its southern site, its truth complete, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Shall raise a wild enthusiast heat | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| In all who view the shrine. | 6 | ······ |
| There Picture's toils shall well relate | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| How chance, or hard involving fate, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| O'er mortal bliss prevail: | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The buskin'd Muse shall near her stand, | 8 | ········ |
| And sighing prompt her tender hand, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With each disastrous tale. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| There let me oft, retired by day, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| In dreams of passion melt away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Allow'd with thee to dwell: | 6 | ˘/···· |
| There waste the mournful lamp of night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Till, Virgin, thou again delight | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| To hear a British shell! | 6 | ···/˘· |
Notes from the edition 2
Notes to the Poetical Works of William Collins, ed. W. C. Bronson (Project Gutenberg #29879).
- Stanza 2, line 1 Euripides, of whom Aristotle pronounces, on a comparison of him with Sophocles, that he was the greater master of the tender passions, ~ên tragikôteros~. C.
- Stanza 3, line 4 The river Arun runs by the village of Trotton in Sussex, where Otway had his birth.
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.