The Bohemian Hymn
In many forms we tryTo utter God's infinity,But the boundless hath no form,And the Universal FriendDoth as far transcendAn angel as a worm.
The great Idea baffles wit,Language falters under it,It leaves the learned in the lurch;Nor art, nor power, nor toil can findThe measure of the eternal Mind,Nor hymn, nor prayer, nor church.
Words in this poem
- transcend v. i.
- To climb; to mount.
- lurch v. t.
- To leave in the lurch; to cheat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bohemian Hymn is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Bohemian Hymn, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/the-bohemian-hymn.html, id L07555.
Form and metre
The Bohemian Hymn is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 ---AA- try · infinity · form · friendA · transcendA · worm
- 2 AABCCB witA · itA · lurchB · findC · mindC · churchB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In many forms we try | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To utter God's infinity, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| But the boundless hath no form, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the Universal Friend | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Doth as far transcend | 5 | ···˘/ |
| An angel as a worm. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The great Idea baffles wit, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Language falters under it, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| It leaves the learned in the lurch; | 8 | ····˘··· |
| Nor art, nor power, nor toil can find | 8 | ···/···· |
| The measure of the eternal Mind, | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| Nor hymn, nor prayer, nor church. | 6 | ······ |
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.