The Stranger’s Heart
The stranger’s heart! Oh, wound it not!A yearning anguish is its lot;In the green shadow of thy tree,The stranger finds no rest with thee.
Thou think’st the vine’s low rustling leavesGlad music round thy household eaves;To him that sound hath sorrow’s tone--The stranger’s heart is with his own.
Thou think’st thy children’s laughing playA lovely sight at fall of day;Then are the stranger’s thoughts oppress’d--His mother’s voice comes o’er his breast.
Thou think’st it sweet when friend with friendBeneath one roof in prayer may blend;Then doth the stranger’s eye grow dim--Far, far are those who pray’d with him.
Thy hearth, thy home, thy vintage-land,The voices of thy kindred band--Oh! midst them all when bless’d thou art,Deal gently with the stranger’s heart!
About this text
The Stranger’s Heart 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 Stranger’s Heart, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-stranger-s-heart.html, id L19496.
Form and metre
The Stranger’s Heart is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABB notA · lotA · treeB · theeB
- 2 AABB leavesA · eavesA · toneB · ownB
- 3 AABB playA · dayA · oppress'dB · breastB
- 4 AABB friendA · blendA · dimB · himB
- 5 AABB landA · bandA · artB · heartB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The stranger’s heart! Oh, wound it not! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A yearning anguish is its lot; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In the green shadow of thy tree, | 8 | ···/···· |
| The stranger finds no rest with thee. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou think’st the vine’s low rustling leaves | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Glad music round thy household eaves; | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| To him that sound hath sorrow’s tone-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The stranger’s heart is with his own. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou think’st thy children’s laughing play | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| A lovely sight at fall of day; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Then are the stranger’s thoughts oppress’d-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| His mother’s voice comes o’er his breast. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou think’st it sweet when friend with friend | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath one roof in prayer may blend; | 8 | ········ |
| Then doth the stranger’s eye grow dim-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Far, far are those who pray’d with him. | 8 | ········ |
| Thy hearth, thy home, thy vintage-land, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The voices of thy kindred band-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Oh! midst them all when bless’d thou art, | 8 | ········ |
| Deal gently with the stranger’s heart! | 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.