Mary at the Feet of Christ
Oh! bless’d beyond all daughters of the earth!What were the Orient’s thrones to that low seatWhere thy hush’d spirit drew celestial birth,Mary! meek listener at the Saviour’s feet?No feverish cares to that divine retreatThy woman’s heart of silent worship brought,But a fresh childhood, heavenly truth to meetWith love, and wonder, and submissive thought.Oh! for the holy quiet of thy breast,Midst the world’s eager tones and footsteps flying,Thou, whose calm soul was like a well-spring, lyingSo deep and still in its transparent rest,That e’en when noontide burns upon the hills,Some one bright solemn star all its lone mirror fills.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- 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.]
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mary at the Feet of Christ 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, Mary at the Feet of Christ, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/mary-at-the-feet-of-christ.html, id L19749.
Form and metre
Mary at the Feet of Christ is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDEEDFF. 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 ABABBCBCDEEDFF earthA · seatB · birthA · feetB · retreatB · broughtC · meetB · thoughtC · breastD · flyingE · lyingE · restD · hillsF · fillsF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! bless’d beyond all daughters of the earth! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What were the Orient’s thrones to that low seat | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Where thy hush’d spirit drew celestial birth, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Mary! meek listener at the Saviour’s feet? | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| No feverish cares to that divine retreat | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Thy woman’s heart of silent worship brought, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| But a fresh childhood, heavenly truth to meet | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| With love, and wonder, and submissive thought. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Oh! for the holy quiet of thy breast, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Midst the world’s eager tones and footsteps flying, | 11 | ···/˘··/·/˘ |
| Thou, whose calm soul was like a well-spring, lying | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| So deep and still in its transparent rest, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| That e’en when noontide burns upon the hills, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some one bright solemn star all its lone mirror fills. | 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.