A Woman's Love
A sentinel angel sitting high in gloryHeard this shrill wail ring out from Purgatory:"Have mercy, mighty angel, hear my story!
"I loved,--and, blind with passionate love, I fell.Love brought me down to death, and death to Hell.For God is just, and death for sin is well.
"I do not rage against His high decree,Nor for myself do ask that grace shall be;But for my love on earth who mourns for me.
"Great Spirit! let me see my love againAnd comfort him one hour, and I were fainTo pay a thousand years of fire and pain."
Then said the pitying angel, "Nay, repentThat wild vow! Look, the dial-finger's bentDown to the last hour of thy punishment!"
But still she wailed, "I pray thee, let me go!I cannot rise to peace and leave him so.Oh, let me soothe him in his bitter woe!"
The brazen gates ground sullenly ajar,And upward, joyous, like a rising star,She rose and vanished in the ether far.
But soon adown the dying sunset sailing,And like a wounded bird her pinions trailing,She fluttered back, with broken-hearted wailing.
She sobbed, "I found him by the summer seaReclined, his head upon a maiden's knee,--She curled his hair and kissed him. Woe is me!"
She wept, "Now let my punishment begin!I have been fond and foolish. Let me inTo expiate my sorrow and my sin."
The angel answered, "Nay, sad soul, go higher!To be deceived in your true heart's desireWas bitterer than a thousand years of fire!"
Words in this poem
- purgatory a.
- Tending to cleanse; cleansing; expiatory. Burke. [L. purgatorius.]
- 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,]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- ajar adv.
- Slightly turned or opened; as, the door was standing ajar. [OE. on char ajar, on the turn; AS. cerr, cyrr, turn, akin to G. kehren to turn, and to D. akerre. See Char.]
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- reclined a.
- Falling or turned downward; reclinate.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Woman's Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, A Woman's Love, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/a-woman-s-love.html, id L21584.
Form and metre
A Woman's Love is 33 lines in 11 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 AAA gloryA · purgatoryA · storyA
- 2 AAA fellA · hellA · wellA
- 3 AAA decreeA · beA · meA
- 4 AAA againA · fainA · painA
- 5 AAA repentA · bentA · punishmentA
- 6 AAA goA · soA · woeA
- 7 AAA ajarA · starA · farA
- 8 AAA sailingA · trailingA · wailingA
- 9 AAA seaA · kneeA · meA
- 10 AAA beginA · inA · sinA
- 11 AAA higherA · desireA · fireA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A sentinel angel sitting high in glory | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Heard this shrill wail ring out from Purgatory: | 11 | ·······/˘·˘ |
| "Have mercy, mighty angel, hear my story! | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| "I loved,--and, blind with passionate love, I fell. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Love brought me down to death, and death to Hell. | 10 | ·········· |
| For God is just, and death for sin is well. | 10 | ·········· |
| "I do not rage against His high decree, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Nor for myself do ask that grace shall be; | 10 | ···/······ |
| But for my love on earth who mourns for me. | 10 | ·········· |
| "Great Spirit! let me see my love again | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And comfort him one hour, and I were fain | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| To pay a thousand years of fire and pain." | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Then said the pitying angel, "Nay, repent | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That wild vow! Look, the dial-finger's bent | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Down to the last hour of thy punishment!" | 11 | ····/˘··/˘˘ |
| But still she wailed, "I pray thee, let me go! | 10 | ·········· |
| I cannot rise to peace and leave him so. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Oh, let me soothe him in his bitter woe!" | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The brazen gates ground sullenly ajar, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And upward, joyous, like a rising star, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| She rose and vanished in the ether far. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But soon adown the dying sunset sailing, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘/·/˘ |
| And like a wounded bird her pinions trailing, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| She fluttered back, with broken-hearted wailing. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| She sobbed, "I found him by the summer sea | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Reclined, his head upon a maiden's knee,-- | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| She curled his hair and kissed him. Woe is me!" | 10 | ·········· |
| She wept, "Now let my punishment begin! | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| I have been fond and foolish. Let me in | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To expiate my sorrow and my sin." | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The angel answered, "Nay, sad soul, go higher! | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| To be deceived in your true heart's desire | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| Was bitterer than a thousand years of fire!" | 11 | ······/˘··/ |
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.