Images of Patriarchal Life
Calm scenes of patriarch life! how long a powerYour unworn pastoral images retainO’er the true heart, which in its childhood’s hourDrank their pure freshness deep! The camels’ trainWinding in patience o’er the desert plain--The tent, the palm-tree, the reposing flock,The gleaming fount, the shadow of the rock--Oh! by how subtle, yet how strong a chain,And in the influence of its touch how bless’d,Are these things link’d, in many a thoughtful breast,To household-memories, thro’ all change endear’d!--The matin bird, the ripple of a streamBeside our native porch, the hearth-light’s gleam,The voices, earliest by the soul revered!
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- endear v. t.
- To make dear or beloved.
- matin n.
- A French mastiff. [F. matin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Images of Patriarchal Life 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, Images of Patriarchal Life, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/images-of-patriarchal-life.html, id L19808.
Form and metre
Images of Patriarchal Life is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCCBDDEFFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABABBCCBDDEFFE powerA · retainB · hourA · trainB · plainB · flockC · rockC · chainB · bless'dD · breastD · endear'dE · streamF · gleamF · reveredE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Calm scenes of patriarch life! how long a power | 11 | ···/˘·····/ |
| Your unworn pastoral images retain | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| O’er the true heart, which in its childhood’s hour | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| Drank their pure freshness deep! The camels’ train | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Winding in patience o’er the desert plain-- | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| The tent, the palm-tree, the reposing flock, | 10 | ······/·˘· |
| The gleaming fount, the shadow of the rock-- | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Oh! by how subtle, yet how strong a chain, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And in the influence of its touch how bless’d, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Are these things link’d, in many a thoughtful breast, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| To household-memories, thro’ all change endear’d! | 10 | ·/·/˘···˘/ |
| --The matin bird, the ripple of a stream | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Beside our native porch, the hearth-light’s gleam, | 10 | ˘///˘····· |
| The voices, earliest by the soul revered! | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
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.