The Wish

Felicia Hemans (1793–1835) · 1808–1835

iambic pentameter · ABAB · 32 lines · from Poems

Come to me, when my soulHath but a few dim hours to linger here;When earthly chains are as a shrivel’d scroll,Oh! let me feel thy presence! be but near!

That I may look once moreInto thine eyes, which never changed for me;That I may speak to thee of that bright shoreWhere, with our treasure, we have long’d to be.

Thou friend of many days!Of sadness and of joy, of home and hearth!Will not thy spirit aid me then to raiseThe trembling pinions of my hope from earth?

By every solemn thoughtWhich on our hearts hath sunk in days gone by,From the deep voices of the mountains caught,O’er all th’ adoring silence of the sky;

By every lofty themeWhereon, in low-toned reverence we have spoken;By our communion in each fervent dreamThat sought from realms beyond the grave a token;

And by our tears for thoseWhose loss hath touch’d our world with hues of death;And by the hopes that with their dust repose,As flowers await the south-wind’s vernal breath;

Come to me in that day--The one--the sever’d from all days--O friend!Even then, if human thought may then have swayMy soul with thine shall yet rejoice to blend.

Nor then, nor there alone:I ask my heart if all indeed must die--All that of holiest feelings it hath known?And my heart’s voice replies--Eternity?

Words in this poem

sadness n.: Heaviness; firmness.
whereon adv.: On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
fervent a.: Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
await v. t.: To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Wish 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 Wish, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-wish.html, id L19596.

Form and metre

The Wish is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).

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 ABAB soul^A · here^B · scroll^A · near^B
2 ABAB more^A · me^B · shore^A · be^B
3 A-A- days^A · hearth · raise^A · earth
4 ABAB thought^A · by^B · caught^A · sky^B
5 ABAB theme^A · spoken^B · dream^A · token^B
6 ABAB those^A · death^B · repose^A · breath^B
7 ABAB day^A · friend^B · sway^A · blend^B
8 A-A- alone^A · die · known^A · eternity

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
Come to me, when my soul	6	······
Hath but a few dim hours to linger here;	10	·····/·/˘·
When earthly chains are as a shrivel’d scroll,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Oh! let me feel thy presence! be but near!	10	·····/˘···
That I may look once more	6	······
Into thine eyes, which never changed for me;	10	·····/˘···
That I may speak to thee of that bright shore	10	··········
Where, with our treasure, we have long’d to be.	10	··//˘·····
Thou friend of many days!	6	···/˘·
Of sadness and of joy, of home and hearth!	10	·/˘·······
Will not thy spirit aid me then to raise	10	···/˘·····
The trembling pinions of my hope from earth?	10	·/˘/˘·····
By every solemn thought	7	·/˘˘/˘·
Which on our hearts hath sunk in days gone by,	10	··/·······
From the deep voices of the mountains caught,	10	···/˘··/˘·
O’er all th’ adoring silence of the sky;	10	··˘/˘/˘···
By every lofty theme	7	·/˘˘/˘·
Whereon, in low-toned reverence we have spoken;	11	˘/···/˘··/˘
By our communion in each fervent dream	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
That sought from realms beyond the grave a token;	11	·········/˘
And by our tears for those	7	··/˘···
Whose loss hath touch’d our world with hues of death;	10	····/·····
And by the hopes that with their dust repose,	10	········˘/
As flowers await the south-wind’s vernal breath;	10	·/˘/···/˘·
Come to me in that day--	6	······
The one--the sever’d from all days--O friend!	10	···/˘·····
Even then, if human thought may then have sway	10	/··/˘·····
My soul with thine shall yet rejoice to blend.	10	······˘/··
Nor then, nor there alone:	6	····˘/
I ask my heart if all indeed must die--	10	······˘/··
All that of holiest feelings it hath known?	10	···/˘/˘···
And my heart’s voice replies--Eternity?	10	····˘/˘/˘˘

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