The Hour of Prayer
“Pregar, pregar, pregar,Ch’ altro ponno i mortali al pianger nati?” Alfieri.
Child, amidst the flowers at play,While the red light fades away;Mother, with thine earnest eyeEver following silently;Father, by the breeze of eveCall’d thy harvest-work to leave--Pray: ere yet the dark hours be,Lift the heart and bend the knee!
Traveller, in the stranger’s land,Far from thine own household band;Mourner, haunted by the toneOf a voice from this world gone;Captive, in whose narrow cellSunshine hath not leave to dwell;Sailor on the darkening sea--Lift the heart and bend the knee!
Warrior, that from battle wonBreathest now at set of sun;Woman, o’er the lowly slainWeeping on his burial-plain;Ye that triumph, ye that sigh,Kindred by one holy tie,Heaven’s first star alike ye see--Lift the heart and bend the knee!
Words in this poem
- 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]
- mourner n.
- One who mourns or is grieved at any misfortune, as the death of a friend.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- 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]
- burial n.
- A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Hour of Prayer 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, The Hour of Prayer, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-hour-of-prayer.html, id L19392.
Form and metre
The Hour of Prayer is 26 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 77% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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.
- 2 AAB-CCBB playA · awayA · eyeB · silently · eveC · leaveC · beB · kneeB
- 3 AA--BBCC landA · bandA · tone · gone · cellB · dwellB · seaC · kneeC
- 4 AABBCCDD wonA · sunA · slainB · plainB · sighC · tieC · seeD · kneeD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Pregar, pregar, pregar, | 6 | ······ |
| Ch’ altro ponno i mortali al pianger nati?” Alfieri. | 17 | ··············˘/˘ |
| Child, amidst the flowers at play, | 7 | ·˘/·/·· |
| While the red light fades away; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Mother, with thine earnest eye | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Ever following silently; | 8 | /˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Father, by the breeze of eve | 7 | /˘····· |
| Call’d thy harvest-work to leave-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Pray: ere yet the dark hours be, | 7 | ·····/· |
| Lift the heart and bend the knee! | 7 | ······· |
| Traveller, in the stranger’s land, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Far from thine own household band; | 7 | ····/·· |
| Mourner, haunted by the tone | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Of a voice from this world gone; | 7 | ······· |
| Captive, in whose narrow cell | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Sunshine hath not leave to dwell; | 7 | /······ |
| Sailor on the darkening sea-- | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lift the heart and bend the knee! | 7 | ······· |
| Warrior, that from battle won | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Breathest now at set of sun; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Woman, o’er the lowly slain | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Weeping on his burial-plain; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Ye that triumph, ye that sigh, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Kindred by one holy tie, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Heaven’s first star alike ye see-- | 8 | /˘··˘/·· |
| Lift the heart and bend the knee! | 7 | ······· |
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.