The Silent Multitude
A mighty and a mingled throngWere gather’d in one spot;The dwellers of a thousand homes--Yet midst them voice was not.
The soldier and his chief were there--The mother and her child:The friends, the sisters of one hearth--None spoke--none moved--none smiled.
There lovers met, between whose livesYears had swept darkly by;After that heart-sick hope deferr’d,They met--but silently.
You might have heard the rustling leaf,The breeze’s faintest sound,The shiver of an insect’s wing,On that thick-peopled ground.
Your voice to whispers would have diedFor the deep quiet’s sake;Your tread the softest moss have sought,Such stillness not to break.
What held the countless multitudeBound in that spell of peace?How could the ever-sounding lifeAmid so many cease?
Was it some pageant of the air--Some glory high above,That link’d and hush’d those human soulsIn reverential love?
Or did some burdening passion’s weightHang on their indrawn breath?Awe--the pale awe that freezes words?Fear--the strong fear of death?
A mightier thing--Death, Death himselfLay on each lonely heart!Kindred were there--yet hermits all,Thousands--but each apart.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- amid 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]
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Silent Multitude 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 Silent Multitude, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-silent-multitude.html, id L19551.
Form and metre
The Silent Multitude is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A throng · spotA · homes · notA
- 2 -A-A there · childA · hearth · smiledA
- 4 -A-A leaf · soundA · wing · groundA
- 5 -A-A died · sakeA · sought · breakA
- 6 -A-A multitude · peaceA · life · ceaseA
- 7 -A-A air · aboveA · souls · loveA
- 8 -A-A weight · breathA · words · deathA
- 9 -A-A himself · heartA · all · apartA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A mighty and a mingled throng | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Were gather’d in one spot; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The dwellers of a thousand homes-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Yet midst them voice was not. | 6 | ······ |
| The soldier and his chief were there-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The mother and her child: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The friends, the sisters of one hearth-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| None spoke--none moved--none smiled. | 6 | ······ |
| There lovers met, between whose lives | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Years had swept darkly by; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| After that heart-sick hope deferr’d, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| They met--but silently. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| You might have heard the rustling leaf, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The breeze’s faintest sound, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The shiver of an insect’s wing, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| On that thick-peopled ground. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Your voice to whispers would have died | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For the deep quiet’s sake; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Your tread the softest moss have sought, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Such stillness not to break. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What held the countless multitude | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Bound in that spell of peace? | 6 | ······ |
| How could the ever-sounding life | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Amid so many cease? | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Was it some pageant of the air-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Some glory high above, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That link’d and hush’d those human souls | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In reverential love? | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Or did some burdening passion’s weight | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Hang on their indrawn breath? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Awe--the pale awe that freezes words? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fear--the strong fear of death? | 6 | ······ |
| A mightier thing--Death, Death himself | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘/ |
| Lay on each lonely heart! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Kindred were there--yet hermits all, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Thousands--but each apart. | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
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.