Lines: Written in a Hermitage on the Sea-Shore
O wanderer! would thy heart forgetEach earthly passion and regret,And would thy wearied spirit riseTo commune with its native skies;Pause for a while, and deem it sweetTo linger in this calm retreat;And give thy cares, thy griefs, a short suspense,Amidst wild scenes of lone magnificence.
Unmix’d with aught of meaner tone,Here Nature’s voice is heard alone:When the loud storm, in wrathful hour,Is rushing on its wing of power,And spirits of the deep awake,And surges foam, and billows break,And rocks and ocean-caves aroundReverberate each awful sound--That mighty voice, with all its dread control,To loftiest thought shall wake thy thrilling soul.
But when no more the sea-winds rave,When peace is brooding on the wave,And from earth, air, and ocean riseNo sounds but plaintive melodies;Soothed by their softly mingling swell,As daylight bids the world farewell,The rustling wood, the dying breeze,The faint low rippling of the seas,A tender calm shall steal upon thy breast,A gleam reflected from the realms of rest.
Is thine a heart the world hath stung,Friends have deceived, neglect hath wrung?Hast thou some grief that none may know,Some lonely, secret, silent woe?Or have thy fond affections fledFrom earth, to slumber with the dead?--Oh! pause awhile--the world disown,And dwell with Nature’s self alone!And though no more she bids ariseThy soul’s departed energies,And though thy joy of life is o’er,Beyond her magic to restore;Yet shall her spells o’er every passion steal,And soothe the wounded heart they cannot heal.
Words in this poem
- commune n.
- The commonalty; the common people. [F., fr. commun. See Common.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- 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]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- wrathful a.
- Full of wrath; very angry; greatly incensed; ireful; passionate; as, a wrathful man.
- 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,]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lines: Written in a Hermitage on the Sea-Shore 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, Lines: Written in a Hermitage on the Sea-Shore, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/lines-written-in-a-hermitage-on-the-sea-shore.html, id L13468.
Form and metre
Lines: Written in a Hermitage on the Sea-Shore is 42 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDDEE, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCC-- forgetA · regretA · riseB · skiesB · sweetC · retreatC · suspense · magnificence
- 2 AABBCCDDEE toneA · aloneA · hourB · powerB · awakeC · breakC · aroundD · soundD · controlE · soulE
- 3 AABBCCDDEE raveA · waveA · riseB · melodiesB · swellC · farewellC · breezeD · seasD · breastE · restE
- 4 AABBCCDDEE--FF stungA · wrungA · knowB · woeB · fledC · deadC · disownD · aloneD · ariseE · energiesE · o'er · restore · stealF · healF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O wanderer! would thy heart forget | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘/ |
| Each earthly passion and regret, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And would thy wearied spirit rise | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To commune with its native skies; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Pause for a while, and deem it sweet | 8 | ········ |
| To linger in this calm retreat; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And give thy cares, thy griefs, a short suspense, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Amidst wild scenes of lone magnificence. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘˘ |
| Unmix’d with aught of meaner tone, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Here Nature’s voice is heard alone: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| When the loud storm, in wrathful hour, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Is rushing on its wing of power, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And spirits of the deep awake, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And surges foam, and billows break, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And rocks and ocean-caves around | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Reverberate each awful sound-- | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| That mighty voice, with all its dread control, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| To loftiest thought shall wake thy thrilling soul. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But when no more the sea-winds rave, | 8 | ········ |
| When peace is brooding on the wave, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And from earth, air, and ocean rise | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No sounds but plaintive melodies; | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Soothed by their softly mingling swell, | 10 | ·˘··/˘/˘˘· |
| As daylight bids the world farewell, | 8 | ·/·····/ |
| The rustling wood, the dying breeze, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The faint low rippling of the seas, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| A tender calm shall steal upon thy breast, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A gleam reflected from the realms of rest. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Is thine a heart the world hath stung, | 8 | ········ |
| Friends have deceived, neglect hath wrung? | 9 | ··˘/˘˘/·· |
| Hast thou some grief that none may know, | 8 | ········ |
| Some lonely, secret, silent woe? | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Or have thy fond affections fled | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| From earth, to slumber with the dead?-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh! pause awhile--the world disown, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And dwell with Nature’s self alone! | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And though no more she bids arise | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Thy soul’s departed energies, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And though thy joy of life is o’er, | 8 | ········ |
| Beyond her magic to restore; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Yet shall her spells o’er every passion steal, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And soothe the wounded heart they cannot heal. | 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.