Ruth
The plume-like swaying of the auburn corn,By soft winds to a dreamy motion fann’d,Still brings me back thine image--O forlorn,Yet not forsaken Ruth! I see thee standLone, midst the gladness of the harvest-band--Lone, as a wood-bird on the ocean’s foamFall’n in its weariness. Thy fatherlandSmiles far away! yet to the sense of home--That finest, purest, which can recogniseHome in affection’s glance--for ever trueBeats thy calm heart; and if thy gentle eyesGleam tremulous through tears,’tis not to rueThose words, immortal in their deep love’s tone,“Thy people and thy God shall be mine own!”
Words in this poem
- auburn a.
- Flaxen-colored. Florio. [OE. auburne blonde, OF. alborne, auborne, fr. LL. alburnus whitish, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Alburn.]
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
- recognise v. t.
- To know again; to perceive the identity of, with a person or thing previously known; to recover or recall knowledge of. [From Recognizance; see Cognition, and cf. Reconnoiter.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ruth 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, Ruth, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/ruth.html, id L19743.
Form and metre
Ruth is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDEDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 cornA · fann'dB · forlornA · standB · bandB · foamC · fatherlandB · homeC · recogniseD · trueE · eyesD · rueE · toneF · ownF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The plume-like swaying of the auburn corn, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| By soft winds to a dreamy motion fann’d, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Still brings me back thine image--O forlorn, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Yet not forsaken Ruth! I see thee stand | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Lone, midst the gladness of the harvest-band-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Lone, as a wood-bird on the ocean’s foam | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fall’n in its weariness. Thy fatherland | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Smiles far away! yet to the sense of home-- | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| That finest, purest, which can recognise | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Home in affection’s glance--for ever true | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Beats thy calm heart; and if thy gentle eyes | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Gleam tremulous through tears,’tis not to rue | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Those words, immortal in their deep love’s tone, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| “Thy people and thy God shall be mine own!” | 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.