The Reply of the Shunamite Woman
“I dwell among mine own,”--oh, happy thou!Not for the sunny clusters of the vine,Not for the olives on the mountain’s brow,Nor the flocks wandering by the flowery lineOf streams, that make the green land where they shineLaugh to the light of waters--not for these,Nor the soft shadow of ancestral trees,Whose kindly whisper floats o’er thee and thine--Oh! not for these I call thee richly blest,But for the meekness of thy woman’s breast,Where that sweet depth of still contentment lies;And for thy holy, household love, which clingsUnto all ancient and familiar things,Weaving from each some link for home’s dear charities.
Words in this poem
- 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]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Reply of the Shunamite Woman 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 Reply of the Shunamite Woman, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-reply-of-the-shunamite-woman.html, id L19745.
Form and metre
The Reply of the Shunamite Woman is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCCBDDEFFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 ABABBCCBDDEFFE thouA · vineB · browA · lineB · shineB · theseC · treesC · thineB · blestD · breastD · liesE · clingsF · thingsF · charitiesE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “I dwell among mine own,”--oh, happy thou! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not for the sunny clusters of the vine, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Not for the olives on the mountain’s brow, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nor the flocks wandering by the flowery line | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of streams, that make the green land where they shine | 10 | ·········· |
| Laugh to the light of waters--not for these, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Nor the soft shadow of ancestral trees, | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| Whose kindly whisper floats o’er thee and thine-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Oh! not for these I call thee richly blest, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But for the meekness of thy woman’s breast, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where that sweet depth of still contentment lies; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And for thy holy, household love, which clings | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Unto all ancient and familiar things, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Weaving from each some link for home’s dear charities. | 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.