Recovery
Back, then, once more to breast the waves of life,To battle on against the unceasing spray,To sink o’erwearied in the stormy strife,And rise to strive again; yet on my way,Oh! linger still, thou light of better day!Born in the hours of loneliness: and you,Ye childlike thoughts! the holy and the true--Ye that came bearing, while subdued I lay,The faith, the insight of life’s vernal mornBack on my soul, a clear, bright sense, new-born,Now leave me not! but as, profoundly pure,A blue stream rushes through a darker lakeUnchanged, e’en thus with me your journey take,Wafting sweet airs of heaven thro’ this low world obscure.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- childlike a.
- Resembling a child, or that which belongs to children; becoming a child; meek; submissive; dutiful.
- insight n.
- A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; -- frequently used with into.
- 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.]
- profoundly adv.
- In a profound manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Recovery 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, Recovery, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/recovery.html, id L19835.
Form and metre
Recovery is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCCBDDEFFE. 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 ABABBCCBDDEFFE lifeA · sprayB · strifeA · wayB · dayB · youC · trueC · layB · mornD · bornD · pureE · lakeF · takeF · obscureE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Back, then, once more to breast the waves of life, | 10 | ·········· |
| To battle on against the unceasing spray, | 11 | ·/˘····˘/˘· |
| To sink o’erwearied in the stormy strife, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And rise to strive again; yet on my way, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Oh! linger still, thou light of better day! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Born in the hours of loneliness: and you, | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| Ye childlike thoughts! the holy and the true-- | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Ye that came bearing, while subdued I lay, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| The faith, the insight of life’s vernal morn | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Back on my soul, a clear, bright sense, new-born, | 10 | ·········· |
| Now leave me not! but as, profoundly pure, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| A blue stream rushes through a darker lake | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Unchanged, e’en thus with me your journey take, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Wafting sweet airs of heaven thro’ this low world obscure. | 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.