The Angels
ARE the angels never impatientThat we are so weak and slow,So dull to their guiding touches,So deaf to the whispers lowWith which, entreating and urging,They follow us as we go?
Ah no! the pitiful angelsAre clearer of sight than we,And they note not only the thing that we are,But the thing that we fain would be,—The hint of gold in the cumbering dross,Of fruit on the bare, cold tree.
And I think that at times the angelsMust smile as mothers smileAt the peevish babies on their knees,Loving them all the while,And cheating the little ones of their painWith sweet and motherly wile.
And if they are so patient, the angels,How tenderer far than theyMust the mighty Lord of the angels be,Whom the heavenly hosts obey,Who speeds them forth on their errands,And cares for us more than they!
Words in this poem
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Angels 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, The Angels, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/the-angels.html, id L23493.
Form and metre
The Angels is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-A impatient · slowA · touches · lowA · urging · goA
- 2 -A-A-A angels · weA · are · beA · dross · treeA
- 3 -A-A-A angels · smileA · knees · whileA · pain · wileA
- 4 -A-A-A angels · theyA · be · obeyA · errands · theyA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ARE the angels never impatient | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| That we are so weak and slow, | 7 | ······· |
| So dull to their guiding touches, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| So deaf to the whispers low | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With which, entreating and urging, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| They follow us as we go? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Ah no! the pitiful angels | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Are clearer of sight than we, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And they note not only the thing that we are, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| But the thing that we fain would be,— | 8 | ········ |
| The hint of gold in the cumbering dross, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Of fruit on the bare, cold tree. | 7 | ······· |
| And I think that at times the angels | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Must smile as mothers smile | 6 | ···/˘· |
| At the peevish babies on their knees, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Loving them all the while, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And cheating the little ones of their pain | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| With sweet and motherly wile. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And if they are so patient, the angels, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| How tenderer far than they | 7 | ······· |
| Must the mighty Lord of the angels be, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Whom the heavenly hosts obey, | 8 | ··/˘˘·˘/ |
| Who speeds them forth on their errands, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And cares for us more than they! | 7 | ······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.