If Thou Hast Crush’d a Flower
“Oh, cast thou notAffection from thee! In this bitter worldHold to thy heart that only treasure fast;Watch--guard it--suffer not a breath to dimThe bright gem’s purity!”
If thou hast crush’d a flower,The root may not be blighted;If thou hast quench’d a lamp,Once more it may be lighted:But on thy harp, or on thy lute,The string which thou hast brokenShall never in sweet sound againGive to thy touch a token!
If thou hast loosed a birdWhose voice of song could cheer thee,Still, still he may be wonFrom the skies to warble near thee:But if upon the troubled seaThou hast thrown a gem unheeded,Hope not that wind or wave will bringThe treasure back when needed.
If thou hast bruised a vine,The summer’s breath is healing,And its clusters yet may glowThrough the leaves their bloom revealing:But if thou hast a cup o’erthrownWith a bright draught fill’d--oh! neverShall earth give back that lavish’d wealthTo cool thy parch’d lip’s fever!
The heart is like that cup,If thou waste the love it bore thee;And like that jewel gone,Which the deep will not restore thee;And like that string of harp or luteWhence the sweet sound is scatter’d,--Gently, oh! gently touch the chords,So soon for ever shatter’d!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- warble v. t.
- To sing in a trilling, quavering, or vibratory manner; to modulate with turns or variations; to trill; as, certain birds are remarkable for warbling their songs. [OE. werbelen, OF. werbler; of Teutonic origin; cf. G. wirbeln to turn, to warble, D. wervelen, akin to E. whirl. See Whirl.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If Thou Hast Crush’d a Flower 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, If Thou Hast Crush’d a Flower, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/if-thou-hast-crush-d-a-flower.html, id L19688.
Form and metre
If Thou Hast Crush’d a Flower is 37 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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.
- 2 -A-A-BBB flower · blightedA · lamp · lightedA · lute · brokenB · againB · tokenB
- 3 -A-AAB-B bird · theeA · won · theeA · seaA · unheededB · bring · neededB
- 4 -A-A---- vine · healingA · glow · revealingA · o'erthrown · never · wealth · fever
- 5 -A-A-B-B cup · theeA · gone · theeA · lute · scatter'dB · chords · shatter'dB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Oh, cast thou not | 4 | ···· |
| Affection from thee! In this bitter world | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Hold to thy heart that only treasure fast; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Watch--guard it--suffer not a breath to dim | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The bright gem’s purity!” | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| If thou hast crush’d a flower, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The root may not be blighted; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| If thou hast quench’d a lamp, | 6 | ······ |
| Once more it may be lighted: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But on thy harp, or on thy lute, | 8 | ········ |
| The string which thou hast broken | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Shall never in sweet sound again | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Give to thy touch a token! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| If thou hast loosed a bird | 6 | ······ |
| Whose voice of song could cheer thee, | 7 | ······· |
| Still, still he may be won | 6 | ······ |
| From the skies to warble near thee: | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| But if upon the troubled sea | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Thou hast thrown a gem unheeded, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Hope not that wind or wave will bring | 8 | ········ |
| The treasure back when needed. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| If thou hast bruised a vine, | 6 | ······ |
| The summer’s breath is healing, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And its clusters yet may glow | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Through the leaves their bloom revealing: | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| But if thou hast a cup o’erthrown | 8 | ········ |
| With a bright draught fill’d--oh! never | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Shall earth give back that lavish’d wealth | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To cool thy parch’d lip’s fever! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The heart is like that cup, | 6 | ······ |
| If thou waste the love it bore thee; | 8 | ········ |
| And like that jewel gone, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Which the deep will not restore thee; | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| And like that string of harp or lute | 8 | ········ |
| Whence the sweet sound is scatter’d,-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Gently, oh! gently touch the chords, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| So soon for ever shatter’d! | 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.