On Reading Paul and Virginia in Childhood
O gentle story of the Indian isle!I loved thee in my lonely childhood wellOn the sea-shore, when day’s last, purple smileSlept on the waters, and their hollow swellAnd dying cadence lent a deeper spellUnto thine ocean-pictures. Midst thy palmsAnd strange bright birds, my fancy joy’d to dwell,And watch the southern cross through midnight calms,And track the spicy woods. Yet more I bless’dThy vision of sweet love--kind, trustful, true,Lighting the citron groves, a heavenly guest,With such pure smiles as Paradise once knew.Even then my young heart wept o’er this world’s powerTo reach with blight that holiest Eden-flower.
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- 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.]
- 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]
- trustful a.
- Full of trust; trusting.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Reading Paul and Virginia in Childhood 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, On Reading Paul and Virginia in Childhood, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/on-reading-paul-and-virginia-in-childhood.html, id L19806.
Form and metre
On Reading Paul and Virginia in Childhood is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDEDEFF. 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 ABABBCBCDEDEFF isleA · wellB · smileA · swellB · spellB · palmsC · dwellB · calmsC · bless'dD · trueE · guestD · knewE · powerF · flowerF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O gentle story of the Indian isle! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| I loved thee in my lonely childhood well | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| On the sea-shore, when day’s last, purple smile | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Slept on the waters, and their hollow swell | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And dying cadence lent a deeper spell | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Unto thine ocean-pictures. Midst thy palms | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And strange bright birds, my fancy joy’d to dwell, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And watch the southern cross through midnight calms, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| And track the spicy woods. Yet more I bless’d | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thy vision of sweet love--kind, trustful, true, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Lighting the citron groves, a heavenly guest, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| With such pure smiles as Paradise once knew. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Even then my young heart wept o’er this world’s power | 11 | /········/˘ |
| To reach with blight that holiest Eden-flower. | 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.