The Sisters of Bethany After the Death of Lazarus
One grief, one faith, O sisters of the dead!Was in your bosoms--thou, whose steps, made fleetBy keen hope fluttering in the heart which bled,Bore thee, as wings, the Lord of Life to greet;And thou, that duteous in thy still retreatDidst wait his summons, then with reverent loveFall weeping at the bless’d Deliverer’s feet,Whom e’en to heavenly tears thy woe could move.And which to Him, the All-seeing and All-just,Was loveliest--that quick zeal, or lowly trust?Oh! question not, and let no law be givenTo those unveilings of its deepest shrine,By the wrung spirit made in outward sign:Free service from the heart is all in all to heaven.
Words in this poem
- duteous a.
- Fulfilling duty; dutiful; having the sentiments due to a superior, or to one to whom respect or service is owed; obedient; as, a duteous son or daughter. [From Duty.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- deliverer n.
- One who delivers or rescues; a preserver.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sisters of Bethany After the Death of Lazarus 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 Sisters of Bethany After the Death of Lazarus, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-sisters-of-bethany-after-the-death-of-lazarus.html, id L19750.
Form and metre
The Sisters of Bethany After the Death of Lazarus is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBCDDEEEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABABBCBCDDEEEE deadA · fleetB · bledA · greetB · retreatB · loveC · feetB · moveC · justD · trustD · givenE · shrineE · signE · heavenE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One grief, one faith, O sisters of the dead! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Was in your bosoms--thou, whose steps, made fleet | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By keen hope fluttering in the heart which bled, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Bore thee, as wings, the Lord of Life to greet; | 10 | ·········· |
| And thou, that duteous in thy still retreat | 11 | ···/˘˘···˘/ |
| Didst wait his summons, then with reverent love | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Fall weeping at the bless’d Deliverer’s feet, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Whom e’en to heavenly tears thy woe could move. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And which to Him, the All-seeing and All-just, | 10 | ······/··· |
| Was loveliest--that quick zeal, or lowly trust? | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Oh! question not, and let no law be given | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| To those unveilings of its deepest shrine, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| By the wrung spirit made in outward sign: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Free service from the heart is all in all to heaven. | 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.