The Same
And ye are strong to shelter!--all meek things,All that need home and covert, love your shade!Birds of shy song, and low-voiced quiet springs,And nun-like violets, by the winds betray’d.Childhood beneath your fresh green tents hath play’dWith his first primrose-wreath: there love hath soughtA veiling gloom for his unutter’d thought;And silent grief, of day’s keen glare afraid,A refuge for her tears; and ofttimes thereHath lone devotion found a place of prayer,A native temple, solemn, hush’d, and dim;For wheresoe’er your murmuring tremours thrillThe woody twilight, there man’s heart hath stillConfess’d a spirit’s breath, and heard a ceaseless hymn.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- ofttimes adv.
- Frequently; often. [Oft + time. Cf. -wards.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Same 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 Same, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-same.html, id L19805.
Form and metre
The Same is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCCBDDEFFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 thingsA · shadeB · springsA · betray'dB · play'dB · soughtC · thoughtC · afraidB · thereD · prayerD · dimE · thrillF · stillF · hymnE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And ye are strong to shelter!--all meek things, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| All that need home and covert, love your shade! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Birds of shy song, and low-voiced quiet springs, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And nun-like violets, by the winds betray’d. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Childhood beneath your fresh green tents hath play’d | 10 | /········· |
| With his first primrose-wreath: there love hath sought | 10 | ···/······ |
| A veiling gloom for his unutter’d thought; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And silent grief, of day’s keen glare afraid, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A refuge for her tears; and ofttimes there | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Hath lone devotion found a place of prayer, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| A native temple, solemn, hush’d, and dim; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| For wheresoe’er your murmuring tremours thrill | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The woody twilight, there man’s heart hath still | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Confess’d a spirit’s breath, and heard a ceaseless hymn. | 12 | ˘/·/˘····/˘· |
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.