He Walked with God: Genesis, V. XXIV
He walk’d with God, in holy joy,While yet his days were few;The deep, glad spirit of the boyTo love and reverence grew.Whether, each nightly star to count,The ancient hills he trode,Or sought the flowers by stream and fount--Alike he walk’d with God.
The graver noon of manhood came,The full of cares and fears;One voice was in his heart--the sameIt heard through childhood’s years.Amidst fair tents, and flocks, and swains,O’er his green pasture-sod,A shepherd-king on Eastern plains--The patriarch walk’d with God.
And calmly, brightly, that pure lifeMelted from earth away;No cloud it knew, no parting strife,No sorrowful decay:He bow’d him not, like all beside,Unto the spoiler’s rod,But join’d at once the glorified,Where angels walk with God!
So let us walk! The night must comeTo us that comes to all;We through the darkness must go home,Hearing the trumpet’s call.Closed is the path for ever moreWhich without death he trode;Not so that way, wherein of yoreHis footsteps walk’d with God!
Words in this poem
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- trode n.
- Tread; footing. [AS. trod, fr. tredan to tread. See Tread.]
- graver n.
- One who graves; an engraver or a sculptor; one whose occupation is te cut letters or figures in stone or other hard material.
- 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.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- spoiler n.
- One who spoils; a plunderer; a pillager; a robber; a despoiler.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Walked with God: Genesis, V. XXIV 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, He Walked with God: Genesis, V. XXIV, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/he-walked-with-god-genesis-v-xxiv.html, id L19555.
Form and metre
He Walked with God: Genesis, V. XXIV is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABABC-C- joyA · fewB · boyA · grewB · countC · trode · fountC · god
- 2 ABABCDCD cameA · fearsB · sameA · yearsB · swainsC · sodD · plainsC · godD
- 3 ABABCDCD lifeA · awayB · strifeA · decayB · besideC · rodD · glorifiedC · godD
- 4 ABABC-C- comeA · allB · homeA · callB · moreC · trode · yoreC · god
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He walk’d with God, in holy joy, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| While yet his days were few; | 6 | ······ |
| The deep, glad spirit of the boy | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To love and reverence grew. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Whether, each nightly star to count, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The ancient hills he trode, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or sought the flowers by stream and fount-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Alike he walk’d with God. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The graver noon of manhood came, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| The full of cares and fears; | 6 | ······ |
| One voice was in his heart--the same | 8 | ········ |
| It heard through childhood’s years. | 6 | ···/·· |
| Amidst fair tents, and flocks, and swains, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| O’er his green pasture-sod, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A shepherd-king on Eastern plains-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The patriarch walk’d with God. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And calmly, brightly, that pure life | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Melted from earth away; | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| No cloud it knew, no parting strife, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No sorrowful decay: | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| He bow’d him not, like all beside, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Unto the spoiler’s rod, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But join’d at once the glorified, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where angels walk with God! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| So let us walk! The night must come | 8 | ········ |
| To us that comes to all; | 6 | ······ |
| We through the darkness must go home, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hearing the trumpet’s call. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Closed is the path for ever more | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which without death he trode; | 6 | ······ |
| Not so that way, wherein of yore | 8 | ········ |
| His footsteps walk’d with God! | 6 | ·/···· |
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.