Hymn by the Sickbed of a Mother
Father! that in the olive-shade,When the dark hour came on,Didst, with a breath of heavenly aid,Strengthen thy Son;
Oh! by the anguish of that night,Send us down bless’d relief;Or to the chasten’d, let thy mightHallow this grief!
And Thou, that when the starry skySaw the dread strife begun,Didst teach adoring faith to cry,“Thy will be done;”
By thy meek spirit, Thou, of allThat e’er have mourn’d, the chief--Thou Saviour! if the stroke must fall,Hallow this grief!
Words in this poem
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- hallow v. t.
- To make holy; to set apart for holy or religious use; to consecrate; to treat or keep as sacred; to reverence. [OE. halowen, halwien, halgien, AS. halgian, fr. halig holy. See Holy.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- 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
Hymn by the Sickbed of a Mother 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, Hymn by the Sickbed of a Mother, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/hymn-by-the-sickbed-of-a-mother.html, id L19536.
Form and metre
Hymn by the Sickbed of a Mother is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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- shadeA · on · aidA · son
- 2 ABAB nightA · reliefB · mightA · griefB
- 3 ABAB skyA · begunB · cryA · doneB
- 4 ABAB allA · chiefB · fallA · griefB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Father! that in the olive-shade, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| When the dark hour came on, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Didst, with a breath of heavenly aid, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Strengthen thy Son; | 4 | /˘·· |
| Oh! by the anguish of that night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Send us down bless’d relief; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Or to the chasten’d, let thy might | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hallow this grief! | 4 | /˘·· |
| And Thou, that when the starry sky | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Saw the dread strife begun, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Didst teach adoring faith to cry, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| “Thy will be done;” | 4 | ···· |
| By thy meek spirit, Thou, of all | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That e’er have mourn’d, the chief-- | 6 | ······ |
| Thou Saviour! if the stroke must fall, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Hallow this grief! | 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.