To a Wandering Female Singer
Thou hast loved and thou hast suffer’d!Unto feeling deep and strong,Thou hast trembled like a harp’s frail string--I know it by thy song!
Thou hast loved--it may be vainly--But well--oh, but too well!Thou hast suffer’d all that woman’s breastMay bear--but must not tell.
Thou hast wept, and thou hast parted,Thou hast been forsaken long,Thou hast watch’d for steps that came not back--I know it by thy song!
By the low, clear silvery gushingOf its music from thy breast;By the quivering of its flute-like swell--A sound of the heart’s unrest;
By its fond and plaintive lingeringOn each word of grief so long.Oh! thou hast loved and suffer’d much--I know it by thy song!
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Wandering Female Singer 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, To a Wandering Female Singer, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/to-a-wandering-female-singer.html, id L19567.
Form and metre
To a Wandering Female Singer is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 -A-A suffer'd · strongA · string · songA
- 2 -A-A vainly · wellA · breast · tellA
- 3 -A-A parted · longA · back · songA
- 4 -A-A gushing · breastA · swell · unrestA
- 5 AA-A lingeringA · longA · much · songA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou hast loved and thou hast suffer’d! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Unto feeling deep and strong, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thou hast trembled like a harp’s frail string-- | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| I know it by thy song! | 6 | ······ |
| Thou hast loved--it may be vainly-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But well--oh, but too well! | 6 | ······ |
| Thou hast suffer’d all that woman’s breast | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| May bear--but must not tell. | 6 | ······ |
| Thou hast wept, and thou hast parted, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thou hast been forsaken long, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Thou hast watch’d for steps that came not back-- | 9 | ········· |
| I know it by thy song! | 6 | ······ |
| By the low, clear silvery gushing | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Of its music from thy breast; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| By the quivering of its flute-like swell-- | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| A sound of the heart’s unrest; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| By its fond and plaintive lingering | 9 | ····/˘/˘˘ |
| On each word of grief so long. | 7 | ······· |
| Oh! thou hast loved and suffer’d much-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I know it by thy song! | 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.