The Vision of St. Peter
To Peter by night the faithfullest cameAnd said, "We appeal to thee!The life of the Church is in thy life;We pray thee to rise and flee.
"For the tyrant's hand is red with blood,And his arm is heavy with power;Thy head, the head of the Church, will fallIf thou tarry in Rome an hour."
Through the sleeping town St. Peter passedTo the wide Campagna plain;In the starry light of the Alban nightHe drew free breath again:
When across his path an awful formIn luminous glory stood;His thorn-crowned brow, His hands and feet,Were wet with immortal blood.
The godlike sorrow which filled His eyesSeemed changed to a godlike wrathAs they turned on Peter, who cried aloud,And sank to his knees in the path.
"Lord of my life, my love, my soul!Say, what wilt Thou with me?"A voice replied, "I go to RomeTo be crucified for thee."
The Apostle sprang, all flushed, to his feet,--The vision had passed away;The light still lay on the dewy plain,But the sky in the east was gray.
To the city walls St. Peter turned,And his heart in his breast grew fire;In every vein the hot blood burnedWith the strength of one high desire.
And sturdily back he marched to his deathOf terrible pain and shame;And never a shade of fear againTo the stout Apostle came.
Words in this poem
- campagna n.
- An open level tract of country; especially [It. See Campaing.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- alban n.
- A white crystalline resinous substance extracted from gutta- percha by the action of alcohol or ether. [L. albus white.]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- sturdily adv.
- In a sturdy manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Vision of St. Peter 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, The Vision of St. Peter, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/the-vision-of-st-peter.html, id L21613.
Form and metre
The Vision of St. Peter is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 -A-A came · theeA · life · fleeA
- 2 -A-A blood · powerA · fall · hourA
- 3 -A-A passed · plainA · night · againA
- 4 -A-A form · stoodA · feet · bloodA
- 5 -A-A eyes · wrathA · aloud · pathA
- 6 -A-A soul · meA · rome · theeA
- 7 -A-A feet · awayA · plain · grayA
- 8 ABAB turnedA · fireB · burnedA · desireB
- 9 -A-A death · shameA · again · cameA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To Peter by night the faithfullest came | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| And said, "We appeal to thee! | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| The life of the Church is in thy life; | 9 | ········· |
| We pray thee to rise and flee. | 7 | ······· |
| "For the tyrant's hand is red with blood, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And his arm is heavy with power; | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Thy head, the head of the Church, will fall | 9 | ········· |
| If thou tarry in Rome an hour." | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Through the sleeping town St. Peter passed | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| To the wide Campagna plain; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| In the starry light of the Alban night | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| He drew free breath again: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| When across his path an awful form | 9 | ·˘/···/˘· |
| In luminous glory stood; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| His thorn-crowned brow, His hands and feet, | 8 | ········ |
| Were wet with immortal blood. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| The godlike sorrow which filled His eyes | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Seemed changed to a godlike wrath | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As they turned on Peter, who cried aloud, | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| And sank to his knees in the path. | 8 | ········ |
| "Lord of my life, my love, my soul! | 8 | ········ |
| Say, what wilt Thou with me?" | 6 | ······ |
| A voice replied, "I go to Rome | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To be crucified for thee." | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The Apostle sprang, all flushed, to his feet,-- | 10 | ·˘/˘······ |
| The vision had passed away; | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| The light still lay on the dewy plain, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| But the sky in the east was gray. | 8 | ········ |
| To the city walls St. Peter turned, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| And his heart in his breast grew fire; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| In every vein the hot blood burned | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With the strength of one high desire. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| And sturdily back he marched to his death | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Of terrible pain and shame; | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| And never a shade of fear again | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| To the stout Apostle came. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
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.