The Word with Power
HOW shall the Word be preached with power?Not with elaborate care and toil,With wastings of the midnight oil,With graceful gesture studied well,And full intonèd syllable;With trope and simile lending forceTo subdivisions of discourse,Or labored feeling framed to please—The word of power is not in these.
How shall the Word be preached with power?Not by a separate holinessWhich stands aloof to warn and bless,Speaking as from a higher planeWhich common men may not attain;Which treats of sin and want and strifeAs things outside the priestly life,And only draws anigh to chide,Holding a saintly robe aside.
How shall the Word be preached with power?Ah, needless to debate and plan!Heart answereth unto heart in man;Out of the very life of eachMust come the power to heal or teach.The life all eloquent may grieve,The brain may subtly work and weave,But if the heart take not its share,The word of power is wanting there.
How shall the Word be preached with power?Go, preacher, search thy soul, and markEach want, each weakness, every darkAnd painful dint where life and sinHave beaten their hard impress in:Apply the balm, and test the cure,And heal thyself, and be thou sureThat which helps thee has power againTo help the souls of other men.
How shall the Word be preached with power?Go ask the suffering and the poor,Go ask the beggar at thy door,Go to the sacred page and readWhat served the old-time want and need:The clasping hand, the kindling eye,Virtue given out unconsciously,The self made selfless hour by hour,—In these is preached the Word with power!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- simile n.
- A word or phrase by which anything is likened, in one or more of its aspects, to something else; a similitude; a poetical or imaginative comparison. [L., from similis. See Similar.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- saintly a.
- Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
- needless a.
- Having no need.
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
- dint n.
- A blow; a stroke. [OE. dint, dent, dunt, a blow, AS. dynt; akin to Icel. dyntr a dint, dynta to dint, and perh. to L. fendere (in composition). Cf. 1st Dent, Defend.]
- selfless a.
- Having no regard to self; unselfish.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Word with Power 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 Word with Power, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/the-word-with-power.html, id L23459.
Form and metre
The Word with Power is 45 lines in 5 stanzas of 9 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 76% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 -AA-ABBCC power · toilA · oilA · well · syllableA · forceB · discourseB · pleaseC · theseC
- 2 -AABBCCDD power · holinessA · blessA · planeB · attainB · strifeC · lifeC · chideD · asideD
- 3 -AABBCCDD power · planA · manA · eachB · teachB · grieveC · weaveC · shareD · thereD
- 4 -AABBCCDD power · markA · darkA · sinB · inB · cureC · sureC · againD · menD
- 5 A--BB--AA powerA · poor · door · readB · needB · eye · unconsciously · hourA · powerA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| HOW shall the Word be preached with power? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Not with elaborate care and toil, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| With wastings of the midnight oil, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| With graceful gesture studied well, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And full intonèd syllable; | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| With trope and simile lending force | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To subdivisions of discourse, | 8 | ·/˘·˘·/˘ |
| Or labored feeling framed to please— | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The word of power is not in these. | 8 | ···/···· |
| How shall the Word be preached with power? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Not by a separate holiness | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Which stands aloof to warn and bless, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Speaking as from a higher plane | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Which common men may not attain; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Which treats of sin and want and strife | 8 | ········ |
| As things outside the priestly life, | 8 | ··//·/˘· |
| And only draws anigh to chide, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Holding a saintly robe aside. | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| How shall the Word be preached with power? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Ah, needless to debate and plan! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Heart answereth unto heart in man; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Out of the very life of each | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Must come the power to heal or teach. | 8 | ···/···· |
| The life all eloquent may grieve, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The brain may subtly work and weave, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But if the heart take not its share, | 8 | ········ |
| The word of power is wanting there. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| How shall the Word be preached with power? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Go, preacher, search thy soul, and mark | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Each want, each weakness, every dark | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And painful dint where life and sin | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Have beaten their hard impress in: | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Apply the balm, and test the cure, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And heal thyself, and be thou sure | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| That which helps thee has power again | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| To help the souls of other men. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How shall the Word be preached with power? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Go ask the suffering and the poor, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Go ask the beggar at thy door, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Go to the sacred page and read | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What served the old-time want and need: | 8 | ········ |
| The clasping hand, the kindling eye, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Virtue given out unconsciously, | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| The self made selfless hour by hour,— | 9 | ···/˘/·/˘ |
| In these is preached the Word with power! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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