The Vigil of Rizpah
Who watches on the mountain with the dead,Alone before the awfulness of night?--A seer awaiting the deep spirit’s might?A warrior guarding some dark pass of dread?No--a lorn woman! On her drooping head,Once proudly graceful, heavy beats the rain;She recks not--living for the unburied slain,Only to scare the vulture from their bed.So, night by night, her vigil hath she keptWith the pale stars, and with the dews hath wept:Oh! surely some bright Presence from aboveOn those wild rocks the lonely one must aid!E’en so; a strengthener through all storm and shade,Th’ unconquerable angel, mightiest Love!
Words in this poem
- awfulness n.
- The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; dreadfulness; solemnity; as, the awfulness of this sacred place.
- lorn a.
- Lost; undone; ruined. [Strong p. p. of Lose. See Lose, Forlorn.]
- scare v. t.
- To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. [OE. skerren, skeren, Icel. skirra to bar, prevent, skirrask to shun , shrink from; or fr. OE. skerre, adj., scared, Icel. skjarr; both perhaps akin to E. sheer ]
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- strengthener n.
- One who, or that which, gives or adds strength. Sir W. Temple.
- unconquerable a.
- Not conquerable; indomitable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Vigil of Rizpah 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 Vigil of Rizpah, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-vigil-of-rizpah.html, id L19744.
Form and metre
The Vigil of Rizpah is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAACCADDEFFE deadA · nightB · mightB · dreadA · headA · rainC · slainC · bedA · keptD · weptD · aboveE · aidF · shadeF · loveE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who watches on the mountain with the dead, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Alone before the awfulness of night?-- | 10 | ˘/···/˘˘·· |
| A seer awaiting the deep spirit’s might? | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| A warrior guarding some dark pass of dread? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| No--a lorn woman! On her drooping head, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Once proudly graceful, heavy beats the rain; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| She recks not--living for the unburied slain, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Only to scare the vulture from their bed. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| So, night by night, her vigil hath she kept | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With the pale stars, and with the dews hath wept: | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh! surely some bright Presence from above | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| On those wild rocks the lonely one must aid! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| E’en so; a strengthener through all storm and shade, | 11 | ···/˘˘····· |
| Th’ unconquerable angel, mightiest Love! | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘/˘/˘· |
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.