The Poetry of the Psalms
Nobly thy song, O minstrel! rush’d to meetTh’ Eternal on the pathway of the blast,With darkness round him as a mantle cast,And cherubim to waft his flying seat.Amidst the hills that smoked beneath his feet,With trumpet-voice thy spirit call’d aloud,And bade the trembling rocks his name repeat,And the bent cedars, and the bursting cloud.But far more gloriously to earth made knownBy that high strain, than by the thunder’s tone,The flashing torrents, or the ocean’s roll,Jehovah spake, through thee imbreathing fire,Nature’s vast realms for ever to inspireWith the deep worship of a living soul.
Words in this poem
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- cherubim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Cherub.. Cf. Seraphim.
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- 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]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Poetry of the Psalms 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 Poetry of the Psalms, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-poetry-of-the-psalms.html, id L19825.
Form and metre
The Poetry of the Psalms is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAACACDDEFFE. 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 ABBAACACDDEFFE meetA · blastB · castB · seatA · feetA · aloudC · repeatA · cloudC · knownD · toneD · rollE · fireF · inspireF · soulE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nobly thy song, O minstrel! rush’d to meet | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Th’ Eternal on the pathway of the blast, | 10 | ˘/˘··/···· |
| With darkness round him as a mantle cast, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And cherubim to waft his flying seat. | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Amidst the hills that smoked beneath his feet, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| With trumpet-voice thy spirit call’d aloud, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And bade the trembling rocks his name repeat, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And the bent cedars, and the bursting cloud. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But far more gloriously to earth made known | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| By that high strain, than by the thunder’s tone, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The flashing torrents, or the ocean’s roll, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Jehovah spake, through thee imbreathing fire, | 11 | ˘/˘······/˘ |
| Nature’s vast realms for ever to inspire | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| With the deep worship of a living soul. | 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.