The Voice of God
Amidst the thrilling leaves, Thy voiceAt evening’s fall drew near;Father! and did not man rejoiceThat blessed sound to hear?
Did not his heart within him burn,Touch’d by the solemn tone?Not so!--for, never to return,Its purity was gone.
Therefore, midst holy stream and bower,His spirit shook with dread,And call’d the cedars, in that hour,To veil his conscious head.
Oh! in each wind, each fountain-flow,Each whisper of the shade,Grant me, my God! thy voice to know,And not to be afraid!
Words in this poem
- amidst 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]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Voice of God 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 Voice of God, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-voice-of-god.html, id L19557.
Form and metre
The Voice of God is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 voiceA · nearB · rejoiceA · hearB
- 2 A-A- burnA · tone · returnA · gone
- 3 ABAB bowerA · dreadB · hourA · headB
- 4 ABAB flowA · shadeB · knowA · afraidB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amidst the thrilling leaves, Thy voice | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| At evening’s fall drew near; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Father! and did not man rejoice | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| That blessed sound to hear? | 5 | ····· |
| Did not his heart within him burn, | 8 | ········ |
| Touch’d by the solemn tone? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Not so!--for, never to return, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Its purity was gone. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Therefore, midst holy stream and bower, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| His spirit shook with dread, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And call’d the cedars, in that hour, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| To veil his conscious head. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Oh! in each wind, each fountain-flow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Each whisper of the shade, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Grant me, my God! thy voice to know, | 8 | ········ |
| And not to be afraid! | 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.