Mount Tabor
On Tabor's height a glory came,And, shrined in clouds of lambent flame,The awestruck, hushed disciples sawChrist and the prophets of the law.Moses, whose grand and awful faceOf Sinai's thunder bore the trace,And wise Elias,--in his eyesThe shade of Israel's prophecies,--Stood in that wide, mysterious light,Than Syrian noons more purely bright,One on each hand, and high betweenShone forth the godlike Nazarene.They bowed their heads in holy fright,--No mortal eyes could bear the sight,--And when they looked again, behold!The fiery clouds had backward rolled,And borne aloft in grandeur lonely,Nothing was left "save Jesus only."
Resplendent type of things to be!We read its mystery to-dayWith clearer eyes than even they,The fisher-saints of Galilee.We see the Christ stand out betweenThe ancient law and faith serene,Spirit and letter; but aboveSpirit and letter both was Love.Led by the hand of Jacob's God,Through wastes of eld a path was trodBy which the savage world could moveUpward through law and faith to love.And there in Tabor's harmless flameThe crowning revelation came.The old world knelt in homage due,The prophets near in reverence drew,Law ceased its mission to fulfil,And Love was lord on Tabor's hill.
So now, while creeds perplex the mindAnd wranglings load the weary wind,When all the air is filled with wordsAnd texts that wring like clashing swords,Still, as for refuge, we may turnWhere Tabor's shining glories burn,--The soul of antique Israel gone,And nothing left but Christ alone.
Words in this poem
- lambent a.
- Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. [L. lambens, -enlis, p. pr. of lambere to lick; akin to lap. See Lap to drink by licking.]
- nazarene n.
- A native or inhabitant of Nazareth; -- a term of contempt applied to Christ and the early Christians.
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mount Tabor 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, Mount Tabor, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/mount-tabor.html, id L21610.
Form and metre
Mount Tabor is 44 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 77% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFEEGGHH cameA · flameA · sawB · lawB · faceC · traceC · eyesD · propheciesD · lightE · brightE · betweenF · nazareneF · frightE · sightE · beholdG · rolledG · lonelyH · onlyH
- 2 ABBACCDDEEDDFFGG-- beA · dayB · theyB · galileeA · betweenC · sereneC · aboveD · loveD · godE · trodE · moveD · loveD · flameF · cameF · dueG · drewG · fulfil · hill
- 3 AA--BB-- mindA · windA · words · swords · turnB · burnB · gone · alone
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On Tabor's height a glory came, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And, shrined in clouds of lambent flame, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The awestruck, hushed disciples saw | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| Christ and the prophets of the law. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Moses, whose grand and awful face | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Of Sinai's thunder bore the trace, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| And wise Elias,--in his eyes | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The shade of Israel's prophecies,-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Stood in that wide, mysterious light, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Than Syrian noons more purely bright, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| One on each hand, and high between | 8 | ········ |
| Shone forth the godlike Nazarene. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They bowed their heads in holy fright,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No mortal eyes could bear the sight,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And when they looked again, behold! | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| The fiery clouds had backward rolled, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And borne aloft in grandeur lonely, | 9 | ··˘/·˘//˘ |
| Nothing was left "save Jesus only." | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| Resplendent type of things to be! | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| We read its mystery to-day | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| With clearer eyes than even they, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The fisher-saints of Galilee. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| We see the Christ stand out between | 8 | ········ |
| The ancient law and faith serene, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Spirit and letter; but above | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Spirit and letter both was Love. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Led by the hand of Jacob's God, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through wastes of eld a path was trod | 8 | ········ |
| By which the savage world could move | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upward through law and faith to love. | 8 | /˘······ |
| And there in Tabor's harmless flame | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The crowning revelation came. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The old world knelt in homage due, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The prophets near in reverence drew, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Law ceased its mission to fulfil, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And Love was lord on Tabor's hill. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So now, while creeds perplex the mind | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And wranglings load the weary wind, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When all the air is filled with words | 8 | ········ |
| And texts that wring like clashing swords, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Still, as for refuge, we may turn | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where Tabor's shining glories burn,-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The soul of antique Israel gone, | 8 | ···˘//˘· |
| And nothing left but Christ alone. | 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.