Old Church in an English Park
Crowning a flowery slope, it stood aloneIn gracious sanctity. A bright rill wound,Caressingly, about the holy ground;And warbled, with a never-dying tone,Amidst the tombs. A hue of ages goneSeem’d, from that ivied porch, that solemn gleamOf tower and cross, pale-quivering on the stream,O’er all th’ ancestral woodlands to be thrown--And something yet more deep. The air was fraughtWith noble memories, whispering many a thoughtOf England’s fathers: loftily serene,They that had toil’d, watch’d, struggled, to secure,Within such fabrics, worship free and pure,Reign’d there, the o’ershadowing spirit of the scene.Fawsley Park, near Daventry.
Words in this poem
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- caressingly
- In caressing manner.
- 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]
- ivied a.
- Overgrown with ivy. [From Ivy.]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- loftily adv.
- In a lofty manner or position; haughtily. [From Lofty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old Church in an English Park 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, Old Church in an English Park, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/old-church-in-an-english-park.html, id L19768.
Form and metre
Old Church in an English Park is 15 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABBA-CCADDEFFE- aloneA · woundB · groundB · toneA · gone · gleamC · streamC · thrownA · fraughtD · thoughtD · sereneE · secureF · pureF · sceneE · daventry
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Crowning a flowery slope, it stood alone | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| In gracious sanctity. A bright rill wound, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Caressingly, about the holy ground; | 10 | ˘/˘˘···/˘· |
| And warbled, with a never-dying tone, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Amidst the tombs. A hue of ages gone | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Seem’d, from that ivied porch, that solemn gleam | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of tower and cross, pale-quivering on the stream, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| O’er all th’ ancestral woodlands to be thrown-- | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| And something yet more deep. The air was fraught | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With noble memories, whispering many a thought | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/·· |
| Of England’s fathers: loftily serene, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| They that had toil’d, watch’d, struggled, to secure, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Within such fabrics, worship free and pure, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Reign’d there, the o’ershadowing spirit of the scene. | 11 | ·······/··· |
| Fawsley Park, near Daventry. | 7 | ······· |
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