Louise Schepler
A fearless journeyer o’er the mountain-snowWert thou, Louise! The sun’s decaying lightOft, with its latest, melancholy glow,Redden’d thy steep, wild way: the starry nightOft met thee, crossing some lone eagle’s height,Piercing some dark ravine: and many a dellKnew, through its ancient rock-recesses well,Thy gentle presence, which hath made them brightOft in mid-storms--oh! not with beauty’s eye,Nor the proud glance of genius keenly burning;No! pilgrim of unwearying charity!Thy spell was love--the mountain-deserts turningTo blessed realms, where stream and rock rejoiceWhen the glad human soul lifts a thanksgiving voice!
Words in this poem
- journeyer n.
- One who journeys.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- keenly adv.
- In a keen manner.
- thanksgiving n.
- The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Louise Schepler 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, Louise Schepler, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/louise-schepler.html, id L19770.
Form and metre
Louise Schepler is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABABBCCB-D-DEE snowA · lightB · glowA · nightB · heightB · dellC · wellC · brightB · eye · burningD · charity · turningD · rejoiceE · voiceE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A fearless journeyer o’er the mountain-snow | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| Wert thou, Louise! The sun’s decaying light | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Oft, with its latest, melancholy glow, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘· |
| Redden’d thy steep, wild way: the starry night | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Oft met thee, crossing some lone eagle’s height, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Piercing some dark ravine: and many a dell | 10 | /˘··˘/·/·· |
| Knew, through its ancient rock-recesses well, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘· |
| Thy gentle presence, which hath made them bright | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Oft in mid-storms--oh! not with beauty’s eye, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor the proud glance of genius keenly burning; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| No! pilgrim of unwearying charity! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Thy spell was love--the mountain-deserts turning | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| To blessed realms, where stream and rock rejoice | 10 | ··˘·····˘/ |
| When the glad human soul lifts a thanksgiving voice! | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
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.