Prayer Continued
“What in me is dark,Illumine; what is low, raise and support.”--Milton.Far are the wings of intellect astrayThat strive not, Father! to thy heavenly seat;They rove, but mount not, and the tempests beatStill on their plumes. O Source of mental day!Chase from before my spirit’s track the arrayOf mists and shadows, raised by earthly care,In troubled hosts that cross the purer air,And veil the opening of the starry way,Which brightens on to thee! Oh, guide thou rightMy thought’s weak pinion; clear my inward sight,The eternal springs of beauty to discern,Welling beside thy throne; unseal mine ear,Nature’s true oracles in joy to hear;Keep my soul wakeful still to listen and to learn.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- unseal v. t.
- To break or remove the seal of; to open, as what is sealed; as, to unseal a letter. [1st pref. un- + seal.]
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prayer Continued 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, Prayer Continued, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/prayer-continued.html, id L19814.
Form and metre
Prayer Continued is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 --ABBAACCADDEFFE dark · milton · astrayA · seatB · beatB · dayA · arrayA · careC · airC · wayA · rightD · sightD · discernE · earF · hearF · learnE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “What in me is dark, | 5 | ····· |
| Illumine; what is low, raise and support.”--Milton. | 12 | ˘/˘·····˘//˘ |
| Far are the wings of intellect astray | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| That strive not, Father! to thy heavenly seat; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| They rove, but mount not, and the tempests beat | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Still on their plumes. O Source of mental day! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Chase from before my spirit’s track the array | 11 | ·····/˘··˘/ |
| Of mists and shadows, raised by earthly care, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| In troubled hosts that cross the purer air, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And veil the opening of the starry way, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which brightens on to thee! Oh, guide thou right | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| My thought’s weak pinion; clear my inward sight, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The eternal springs of beauty to discern, | 11 | ·˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Welling beside thy throne; unseal mine ear, | 10 | /˘˘/··˘/·· |
| Nature’s true oracles in joy to hear; | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| Keep my soul wakeful still to listen and to learn. | 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.