The Music of St Patrick’s
“All the choirSang Hallelujah, as the sound of seas.”--Milton.
Again! oh! send that anthem-peal againThrough the arch’d roof in triumph to the sky!Bid the old tombs ring proudly to the strain,The banners thrill as if with victory!
Such sounds the warrior awe-struck might have heard,While arm’d for fields of chivalrous renown:Such the high hearts of kings might well have stirr’d,While throbbing still beneath the recent crown!
Those notes once more!--they bear my soul away,They lend the wings of morning to its flight;No earthly passion in th’ exulting layWhispers one tone to win me from that height.
All is of Heaven! Yet wherefore to mine eyeGush the vain tears unbidden from their source,Even while the waves of that strong harmonyRoll with my spirit on their sounding course?
Wherefore must rapture its full heart revealThus by the burst of sorrow’s token shower!--Oh! is it not, that humbly we may feelOur nature’s limit in its proudest hour?
Words in this poem
- anthem v. t.
- To celebrate with anthems.
- peal v. i.
- To appeal. Spencer.
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- unbidden a.
- Not bidden; not commanded.
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Music of St Patrick’s 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 Music of St Patrick’s, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-music-of-st-patrick-s.html, id L19675.
Form and metre
The Music of St Patrick’s is 22 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. 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.
- 2 A-A- againA · sky · strainA · victory
- 3 ABAB heardA · renownB · stirr'dA · crownB
- 4 ABAB awayA · flightB · layA · heightB
- 5 -A-A eye · sourceA · harmony · courseA
- 6 ABAB revealA · showerB · feelA · hourB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “All the choir | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Sang Hallelujah, as the sound of seas.”--Milton. | 12 | ··˘/˘·····/˘ |
| Again! oh! send that anthem-peal again | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| Through the arch’d roof in triumph to the sky! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bid the old tombs ring proudly to the strain, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The banners thrill as if with victory! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Such sounds the warrior awe-struck might have heard, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| While arm’d for fields of chivalrous renown: | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| Such the high hearts of kings might well have stirr’d, | 10 | ·········· |
| While throbbing still beneath the recent crown! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Those notes once more!--they bear my soul away, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| They lend the wings of morning to its flight; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| No earthly passion in th’ exulting lay | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Whispers one tone to win me from that height. | 10 | /˘········ |
| All is of Heaven! Yet wherefore to mine eye | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Gush the vain tears unbidden from their source, | 10 | ·········· |
| Even while the waves of that strong harmony | 11 | /˘······/˘˘ |
| Roll with my spirit on their sounding course? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wherefore must rapture its full heart reveal | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Thus by the burst of sorrow’s token shower! | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| --Oh! is it not, that humbly we may feel | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Our nature’s limit in its proudest hour? | 11 | //˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
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.