A Prayer of Affection
Blessings, O Father! shower--Father of Mercies! round his precious head!On his lone walks and on his thoughtful hour,And the pure visions of his midnight bed,Blessings be shed!
Father! I pray thee notFor earthly treasure to that most beloved--Fame, fortune, power: oh! be his spirit provedBy these, or by their absence, at thy will!But let thy peace be wedded to his lot,Guarding his inner life from touch of ill,With its dove-pinion still!Let such a sense of thee,Thy watching presence, thy sustaining love,His bosom-guest inalienably be,That wheresoe’er he move,A heavenly light sereneUpon his heart and mienMay sit undimm’d! a gladness rest his own,Unspeakable, and to the world unknown!Such as from childhood’s morning land of dreams,Remember’d faintly, gleams--Faintly remember’d, and too swiftly flown!
So let him walk with thee,Made by thy Spirit free;And when thou call’st him from his mortal place,To his last hour be still that sweetness given,That joyful trust! and brightly let him part,With lamp clear burning, and unlingering heart,Mature to meet in heavenHis Saviour’s face!
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- inalienably adv.
- In a manner that forbids alienation; as, rights inalienably vested.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Prayer of Affection is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, A Prayer of Affection, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/a-prayer-of-affection.html, id L19737.
Form and metre
A Prayer of Affection is 31 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See 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 ABABB showerA · headB · hourA · bedB · shedB
- 2 A--BABBCDCDEEFFGGF notA · beloved · proved · willB · lotA · illB · stillB · theeC · loveD · beC · moveD · sereneE · mienE · ownF · unknownF · dreamsG · gleamsG · flownF
- 3 AAB-CC-B theeA · freeA · placeB · given · partC · heartC · heaven · faceB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Blessings, O Father! shower-- | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| Father of Mercies! round his precious head! | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| On his lone walks and on his thoughtful hour, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And the pure visions of his midnight bed, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Blessings be shed! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Father! I pray thee not | 6 | /˘···· |
| For earthly treasure to that most beloved-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Fame, fortune, power: oh! be his spirit proved | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| By these, or by their absence, at thy will! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But let thy peace be wedded to his lot, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Guarding his inner life from touch of ill, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| With its dove-pinion still! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Let such a sense of thee, | 6 | ······ |
| Thy watching presence, thy sustaining love, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| His bosom-guest inalienably be, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘˘· |
| That wheresoe’er he move, | 6 | ······ |
| A heavenly light serene | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| Upon his heart and mien | 6 | ······ |
| May sit undimm’d! a gladness rest his own, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Unspeakable, and to the world unknown! | 10 | ˘/˘˘····˘/ |
| Such as from childhood’s morning land of dreams, | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Remember’d faintly, gleams-- | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| Faintly remember’d, and too swiftly flown! | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| So let him walk with thee, | 6 | ······ |
| Made by thy Spirit free; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And when thou call’st him from his mortal place, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To his last hour be still that sweetness given, | 11 | ···/···/˘/˘ |
| That joyful trust! and brightly let him part, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With lamp clear burning, and unlingering heart, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Mature to meet in heaven | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| His Saviour’s face! | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.