To the Same
For thou, a holy shepherdess and kind,Through the pine forests, by the upland rills,Didst roam to seek the children of the hills,A wild, neglected flock! to seek, and find,And meekly win! there feeding each young mindWith balms of heavenly eloquence: not thine,Daughter of Christ! but His, whose love divineIts own clear spirit in thy breast had shrined,A burning light! Oh! beautiful, in truth,Upon the mountains are the feet of thoseWho bear His tidings! From thy morn of youth,For this were all thy journeyings; and the closeOf that long path, heaven’s own bright sabbath-rest,Must wait thee, wanderer! on thy Saviour’s breast
Words in this poem
- shepherdess n.
- A woman who tends sheep; hence, a rural lass.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- meekly adv.
- In a meek manner.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Same 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 the Same, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/to-the-same.html, id L19771.
Form and metre
To the Same is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAACCADEDEFF. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABBAACCADEDEFF kindA · rillsB · hillsB · findA · mindA · thineC · divineC · shrinedA · truthD · thoseE · youthD · closeE · restF · breastF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For thou, a holy shepherdess and kind, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Through the pine forests, by the upland rills, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Didst roam to seek the children of the hills, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A wild, neglected flock! to seek, and find, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And meekly win! there feeding each young mind | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With balms of heavenly eloquence: not thine, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Daughter of Christ! but His, whose love divine | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Its own clear spirit in thy breast had shrined, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A burning light! Oh! beautiful, in truth, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Upon the mountains are the feet of those | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who bear His tidings! From thy morn of youth, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For this were all thy journeyings; and the close | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of that long path, heaven’s own bright sabbath-rest, | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Must wait thee, wanderer! on thy Saviour’s breast | 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.