Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre
Weeper! to thee how bright a morn was givenAfter thy long, long vigil of despair,When that high voice which burial-rocks had rivenThrill’d with immortal tones the silent air!Never did clarion’s royal blast declareSuch tale of victory to a breathless crowd,As the deep sweetness of one word could bearInto thy heart of hearts, O woman! bow’dBy strong affection’s anguish! one low word--“Mary!” and all the triumph wrung from deathWas thus reveal’d; and thou, that so hadst err’d,So wept, and been forgiven, in trembling faithDidst cast thee down before the all-conquering Son,Awed by the mighty gift thy tears and love had won!
Words in this poem
- weeper n.
- One who weeps; esp., one who sheds tears.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- burial n.
- A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre 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 Magdalene at the Sepulchre, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/mary-magdalene-at-the-sepulchre.html, id L19753.
Form and metre
Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre is 14 lines in a single stanza. 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 ABABBCBC----DD givenA · despairB · rivenA · airB · declareB · crowdC · bearB · bow'dC · word · death · err'd · faith · sonD · wonD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Weeper! to thee how bright a morn was given | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| After thy long, long vigil of despair, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| When that high voice which burial-rocks had riven | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Thrill’d with immortal tones the silent air! | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Never did clarion’s royal blast declare | 10 | /·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Such tale of victory to a breathless crowd, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As the deep sweetness of one word could bear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Into thy heart of hearts, O woman! bow’d | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| By strong affection’s anguish! one low word-- | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| “Mary!” and all the triumph wrung from death | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Was thus reveal’d; and thou, that so hadst err’d, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| So wept, and been forgiven, in trembling faith | 11 | ····˘/˘·/˘· |
| Didst cast thee down before the all-conquering Son, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Awed by the mighty gift thy tears and love had won! | 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.