A Thought
GOD, in his power, keeps making more men,Peopling the great world again and again;Age after age, as the centuries roll,Never he makes a mistake with a soul,Never neglects them, and never forgets.Atoms in space from their birth to their end,Dead or alive, he is always their friend.
Those who lived first, when the world was all new,Still are as dear in his sight as are you;Perished their names from the earth that they trod,But every name is remembered by God,—All that they sought for, and all that they wrought.Fixed in unlikeness each separate soul,Brethren and kin in the infinite whole.
Is God not tired, though almighty He is,As the long years form the slow centuries,And the slow centuries linked in embraceMake up the cycles and meet into space?Wearies He never, nor ceaseth His toil,Nor says, “It is finished; creation is done”?—Men are so many, and God is but one!
Foolish and childish the thought that I frame.Meteors fall in, but the sun is the same.What are the birds to the air-spaces free?What are the fish to the surge or the sea,Grains to the desert sands, motes to the beam?Time hides its face at Eternity’s call;Men may be many, but God he is all.
About this text
A Thought is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, A Thought, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/a-thought.html, id L23491.
Form and metre
A Thought is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABB-CC menA · againA · rollB · soulB · forgets · endC · friendC
- 2 AABB-CC newA · youA · trodB · godB · wrought · soulC · wholeC
- 3 AABB-CC isA · centuriesA · embraceB · spaceB · toil · doneC · oneC
- 4 AABB-CC frameA · sameA · freeB · seaB · beam · callC · allC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| GOD, in his power, keeps making more men, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Peopling the great world again and again; | 10 | /˘···˘/·˘/ |
| Age after age, as the centuries roll, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| Never he makes a mistake with a soul, | 10 | /˘···˘/··· |
| Never neglects them, and never forgets. | 10 | /˘˘/··/˘˘/ |
| Atoms in space from their birth to their end, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Dead or alive, he is always their friend. | 10 | ··˘/··/··· |
| Those who lived first, when the world was all new, | 10 | ·········· |
| Still are as dear in his sight as are you; | 10 | ·········· |
| Perished their names from the earth that they trod, | 10 | /˘········ |
| But every name is remembered by God,— | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘·· |
| All that they sought for, and all that they wrought. | 10 | ·········· |
| Fixed in unlikeness each separate soul, | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| Brethren and kin in the infinite whole. | 10 | /˘····/˘˘· |
| Is God not tired, though almighty He is, | 10 | ···/·˘/˘·· |
| As the long years form the slow centuries, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And the slow centuries linked in embrace | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Make up the cycles and meet into space? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Wearies He never, nor ceaseth His toil, | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Nor says, “It is finished; creation is done”?— | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| Men are so many, and God is but one! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Foolish and childish the thought that I frame. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Meteors fall in, but the sun is the same. | 10 | /˘········ |
| What are the birds to the air-spaces free? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| What are the fish to the surge or the sea, | 10 | ·········· |
| Grains to the desert sands, motes to the beam? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Time hides its face at Eternity’s call; | 10 | ·····˘/˘˘· |
| Men may be many, but God he is all. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.