The Star of the Mine
From the deep chambers of a mine,With heavy gloom o’erspread,I saw a star at noontide shineSerenely o’er my head.
I had not seen it midst the glowOf the rich upper day;But in that shadowy world below,How my heart bless’d its ray!
And still, the farther from my sightTorches and lamps were borne,The purer, lovelier, seem’d the lightThat wore its beams unshorn.
Oh! what is like that heavenly spark?--A friend’s kind, steadfast eye;Where, brightest when the world grows dark,Hope, cheer, and comfort lie!
Words in this poem
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- serenely adv.
- In a serene manner; clearly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Star of the Mine 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 Star of the Mine, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-star-of-the-mine.html, id L19531.
Form and metre
The Star of the Mine is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABAB mineA · o'erspreadB · shineA · headB
- 2 ABAB glowA · dayB · belowA · rayB
- 3 ABAB sightA · borneB · lightA · unshornB
- 4 ABAB sparkA · eyeB · darkA · lieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From the deep chambers of a mine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With heavy gloom o’erspread, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I saw a star at noontide shine | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Serenely o’er my head. | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
| I had not seen it midst the glow | 8 | ········ |
| Of the rich upper day; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But in that shadowy world below, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| How my heart bless’d its ray! | 6 | ······ |
| And still, the farther from my sight | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Torches and lamps were borne, | 6 | /˘···· |
| The purer, lovelier, seem’d the light | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That wore its beams unshorn. | 6 | ······ |
| Oh! what is like that heavenly spark? | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| --A friend’s kind, steadfast eye; | 6 | ···/·· |
| Where, brightest when the world grows dark, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Hope, cheer, and comfort lie! | 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.