The Olive Tree
The palm--the vine--the cedar--each hath powerTo bid fair Oriental shapes glance by;And each quick glistening of the laurel bowerWafts Grecian images o’er fancy’s eye.But thou, pale Olive! in thy branches lieFar deeper spells than prophet-grove of oldMight e’er enshrine: I could not hear the sighTo the wind’s faintest whisper, nor beholdOne shiver of thy leaves’ dim, silvery green,Without high thoughts and solemn, of that sceneWhen, in the garden, the Redeemer pray’d--When pale stars look’d upon his fainting head,And angels, ministering in silent dread,Trembled, perchance, within thy trembling shade.
Words in this poem
- enshrine v. t.
- To inclose in a shrine or chest; hence, to preserve or cherish as something sacred; as, to enshrine something in memory.
- redeemer n.
- One who redeems.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Olive Tree 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 Olive Tree, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-olive-tree.html, id L19765.
Form and metre
The Olive Tree is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDDEFFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABABBCBCDDEFFE powerA · byB · bowerA · eyeB · lieB · oldC · sighB · beholdC · greenD · sceneD · pray'dE · headF · dreadF · shadeE
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 palm--the vine--the cedar--each hath power | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| To bid fair Oriental shapes glance by; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And each quick glistening of the laurel bower | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| Wafts Grecian images o’er fancy’s eye. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| But thou, pale Olive! in thy branches lie | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Far deeper spells than prophet-grove of old | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Might e’er enshrine: I could not hear the sigh | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To the wind’s faintest whisper, nor behold | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| One shiver of thy leaves’ dim, silvery green, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Without high thoughts and solemn, of that scene | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When, in the garden, the Redeemer pray’d-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| When pale stars look’d upon his fainting head, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And angels, ministering in silent dread, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Trembled, perchance, within thy trembling shade. | 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.