To a Child Embracing His Mother
Love thy mother, little one!Kiss and clasp her neck again,--Hereafter she may have a sonWill kiss and clasp her neck in vain.Love thy mother, little one!
Gaze upon her living eyes,And mirror back her love for thee,--Hereafter thou mayst shudder sighsTo meet them when they cannot see.Gaze upon her living eyes!
Oh, revere her raven hair!Although it be not silver-gray;Too early Death, led on by Care,May snatch save one dear lock away.Oh, revere her raven hair!
Pray for her at eve and morn,That Heaven may long the stroke defer,--For thou mayst live the hour forlornWhen thou wilt ask to die with her.Pray for her at eve and morn!
Words in this poem
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
- 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.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Child Embracing His Mother is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, To a Child Embracing His Mother, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/to-a-child-embracing-his-mother.html, id L20092.
Form and metre
To a Child Embracing His Mother is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABA oneA · againB · sonA · vainB · oneA
- 2 ABABA eyesA · theeB · sighsA · seeB · eyesA
- 3 ABABA hairA · grayB · careA · awayB · hairA
- 4 ABABA mornA · deferB · forlornA · herB · mornA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love thy mother, little one! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Kiss and clasp her neck again,-- | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Hereafter she may have a son | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Will kiss and clasp her neck in vain. | 8 | ········ |
| Love thy mother, little one! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Gaze upon her living eyes, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And mirror back her love for thee,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Hereafter thou mayst shudder sighs | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| To meet them when they cannot see. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Gaze upon her living eyes! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Oh, revere her raven hair! | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Although it be not silver-gray; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Too early Death, led on by Care, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| May snatch save one dear lock away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Oh, revere her raven hair! | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Pray for her at eve and morn, | 7 | ······· |
| That Heaven may long the stroke defer,-- | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| For thou mayst live the hour forlorn | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| When thou wilt ask to die with her. | 8 | ········ |
| Pray for her at eve and morn! | 7 | ······· |
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.