Address to the Deity: Written at the Age of Eleven
The infant muse, Jehovah! would aspireTo swell the adoration of the lyre:Source of all good! oh, teach my voice to singThee, from whom Nature’s genuine beauties spring;Thee, God of truth, omnipotent and wise,Who saidst to Chaos, “let the earth arise.”O Author of the rich luxuriant year!Love, Truth, and Mercy in thy works appear:Within their orbs the planets dost Thou keep,And e’en hast limited the mighty deep.Oh! could I number thy inspiring ways,And wake the voice of animated praise!Ah, no! the theme shall swell a cherub’s note;To Thee celestial hymns of rapture float.’Tis not for me in lowly strains to singThee, God of mercy,--heaven’s immortal King!Yet to that happiness I’d fain aspire--Oh! fill my heart with elevated fire:With angel-songs an artless voice shall blend,The grateful offering shall to Thee ascend.Yes! Thou wilt breathe a spirit o’er my lyre,And “fill my beating heart with sacred fire!”And when to Thee my youth, my life, I’ve given,Raise me to join Eliza, blest in Heaven.
Words in this poem
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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,]
- cherub n.
- A mysterious composite being, the winged footstool and chariot of the Almighty, described in Ezekiel i. and x. [Heb. kerub.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Address to the Deity: Written at the Age of Eleven 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, Address to the Deity: Written at the Age of Eleven, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/address-to-the-deity-written-at-the-age-of-eleven.html, id L13411.
Form and metre
Address to the Deity: Written at the Age of Eleven is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGBBAAHHAA-- aspireA · lyreA · singB · springB · wiseC · ariseC · yearD · appearD · keepE · deepE · waysF · praiseF · noteG · floatG · singB · kingB · aspireA · fireA · blendH · ascendH · lyreA · fireA · given · heaven
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The infant muse, Jehovah! would aspire | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| To swell the adoration of the lyre: | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Source of all good! oh, teach my voice to sing | 10 | ·········· |
| Thee, from whom Nature’s genuine beauties spring; | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Thee, God of truth, omnipotent and wise, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Who saidst to Chaos, “let the earth arise.” | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| O Author of the rich luxuriant year! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Love, Truth, and Mercy in thy works appear: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Within their orbs the planets dost Thou keep, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And e’en hast limited the mighty deep. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Oh! could I number thy inspiring ways, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And wake the voice of animated praise! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| Ah, no! the theme shall swell a cherub’s note; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To Thee celestial hymns of rapture float. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| ’Tis not for me in lowly strains to sing | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thee, God of mercy,--heaven’s immortal King! | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Yet to that happiness I’d fain aspire-- | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Oh! fill my heart with elevated fire: | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| With angel-songs an artless voice shall blend, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The grateful offering shall to Thee ascend. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Yes! Thou wilt breathe a spirit o’er my lyre, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And “fill my beating heart with sacred fire!” | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And when to Thee my youth, my life, I’ve given, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Raise me to join Eliza, blest in Heaven. | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
Notes from The Poems of Felicia Hemans (Project Gutenberg #66785), largely Mrs Hemans's own.
- Line 24 A sister whom the author had lost.
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