The Return
“Hast thou come with the heart of thy childhood back;The free, the pure, the kind?”--So murmur’d the trees in my homeward track,As they play’d to the mountain wind.
“Hath thy soul been true to its early love”Whisper’d my native streams;“Hath the spirit nursed amidst hill and groveStill revered its first high dreams?”
“Hast thou borne in thy bosom the holy prayerOf the child in his parent-halls?”Thus breathed a voice on the thrilling air,From the old ancestral walls.
“Hast thou kept thy faith with the faithful dead,Whose place of rest is nigh?With the father’s blessing o’er thee shed,With the mother’s trusting eye?”
Then my tears gush’d forth in sudden rain,As I answer’d--“O ye shades!I bring not my childhood’s heart againTo the freedom of your glades.
“I have turn’d from my first pure love aside,O bright and happy streams!Light after light, in my soul have diedThe day-spring’s glorious dreams.
“And the holy prayer from my thoughts hath pass’d--The prayer at my mother’s knee;Darken’d and troubled I come at last,Home of my boyish glee!
“But I bear from my childhood a gift of tears,To soften and atone;And oh! ye scenes of those bless’d years,They shall make me again your own.”
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- 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]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- boyish a.
- Resembling a boy in a manners or opinions; belonging to a boy; childish; trifling; puerile.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- atone v. t.
- To set at one; to reduce to concord; to reconcile, as parties at variance; to appease.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Return 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 Return, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-return.html, id L19478.
Form and metre
The Return is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAB backA · kindB · trackA · windB
- 2 -A-A love · streamsA · grove · dreamsA
- 3 ABAB prayerA · hallsB · airA · wallsB
- 4 ABAB deadA · nighB · shedA · eyeB
- 5 ABAB rainA · shadesB · againA · gladesB
- 6 ABAB asideA · streamsB · diedA · dreamsB
- 7 ABAB pass'dA · kneeB · lastA · gleeB
- 8 ABAB tearsA · atoneB · yearsA · ownB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Hast thou come with the heart of thy childhood back; | 11 | ········/·· |
| The free, the pure, the kind?” | 6 | ······ |
| --So murmur’d the trees in my homeward track, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As they play’d to the mountain wind. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “Hath thy soul been true to its early love” | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whisper’d my native streams; | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| “Hath the spirit nursed amidst hill and grove | 10 | ··/˘·˘/··· |
| Still revered its first high dreams?” | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| “Hast thou borne in thy bosom the holy prayer | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| Of the child in his parent-halls?” | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thus breathed a voice on the thrilling air, | 10 | ··˘····/˘· |
| From the old ancestral walls. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| “Hast thou kept thy faith with the faithful dead, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whose place of rest is nigh? | 6 | ······ |
| With the father’s blessing o’er thee shed, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| With the mother’s trusting eye?” | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Then my tears gush’d forth in sudden rain, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| As I answer’d--“O ye shades! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I bring not my childhood’s heart again | 9 | ····/··˘/ |
| To the freedom of your glades. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “I have turn’d from my first pure love aside, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| O bright and happy streams! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Light after light, in my soul have died | 9 | ········· |
| The day-spring’s glorious dreams. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| “And the holy prayer from my thoughts hath pass’d-- | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| The prayer at my mother’s knee; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Darken’d and troubled I come at last, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| Home of my boyish glee! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “But I bear from my childhood a gift of tears, | 11 | ·····/····· |
| To soften and atone; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And oh! ye scenes of those bless’d years, | 8 | ········ |
| They shall make me again your own.” | 8 | ····˘/·· |
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.