Prayer
IF I should pray, my prayer would beFor gratitude unlimited:For gratitude so vast and deep,That it would move my soul to weepGreat tears, and all the words I saidTo be as organ notes sublime,Full-throated flowing words of rhyme,Whose like no mortal eye hath read.
Then would I kneel before the GodWhose matchless genius made the earth;The Poet-God, who sows the hoursWith all the scented hosts of flowers,Who gives the little winds their birth,Who doth unloose the sea-song’s mightTo shake the very stars at night,And fling the foam-flakes high in mirth.
Whose mind is fragrant as a groveOf cedar trees in summer rain,Whose thoughts dead poets gathered up,And poured within the brimming cupThey offered to the world in vain.Whose whisper masters caught, and wroteInto their music note by note,Immortal, haunting, strain on strain.
Whose image is revealed to allGreat lovers in the loved one’s face,Whose passion mystical and deepKindles the holy fires that sleepWithin the heart’s most secret place.Whose breath is incense on the shrineOf earthly love, burning divineAnd changeless, through all time and space!
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- unloose v. t.
- To make loose; to loosen; to set free. [1st pref. un- (intensive) + loose.]
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prayer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #50591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Radclyffe Hall, Prayer, in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/prayer.html, id L22686.
Form and metre
Prayer is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 -ABBACCA be · unlimitedA · deepB · weepB · saidA · sublimeC · rhymeC · readA
- 2 -ABBACCA god · earthA · hoursB · flowersB · birthA · mightC · nightC · mirthA
- 3 -ABBACCA grove · rainA · upB · cupB · vainA · wroteC · noteC · strainA
- 4 -ABBACCA all · faceA · deepB · sleepB · placeA · shrineC · divineC · spaceA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IF I should pray, my prayer would be | 8 | ········ |
| For gratitude unlimited: | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| For gratitude so vast and deep, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That it would move my soul to weep | 8 | ········ |
| Great tears, and all the words I said | 8 | ········ |
| To be as organ notes sublime, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Full-throated flowing words of rhyme, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Whose like no mortal eye hath read. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then would I kneel before the God | 8 | ········ |
| Whose matchless genius made the earth; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The Poet-God, who sows the hours | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| With all the scented hosts of flowers, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Who gives the little winds their birth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who doth unloose the sea-song’s might | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To shake the very stars at night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fling the foam-flakes high in mirth. | 8 | ········ |
| Whose mind is fragrant as a grove | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of cedar trees in summer rain, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Whose thoughts dead poets gathered up, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And poured within the brimming cup | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They offered to the world in vain. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose whisper masters caught, and wrote | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Into their music note by note, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Immortal, haunting, strain on strain. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Whose image is revealed to all | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Great lovers in the loved one’s face, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose passion mystical and deep | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Kindles the holy fires that sleep | 8 | /˘·/˘/·· |
| Within the heart’s most secret place. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whose breath is incense on the shrine | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Of earthly love, burning divine | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| And changeless, through all time and space! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.