To a Sleeping Child I
Oh, 'tis a touching thing, to make one weep,--A tender infant with its curtain'd eye,Breathing as it would neither live nor dieWith that unchanging countenance of sleep!As if its silent dream, serene and deep,Had lined its slumber with a still blue skySo that the passive cheeks unconscious lieWith no more life than roses--just to keepThe blushes warm, and the mild, odorous breath.O blossom boy! so calm is thy repose.So sweet a compromise of life and death,'Tis pity those fair buds should e'er uncloseFor memory to stain their inward leaf,Tinging thy dreams with unacquainted grief.
Words in this poem
- compromise n.
- A mutual agreement to refer matters in dispute to the decision of arbitrators. Burrill. [F. compromis, fr. L. compromissum a mutual promise to abide by the decision of an arbiter, fr. compromittere to make such a promise; com- + promittere to promis]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Sleeping Child I 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 Sleeping Child I, 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-sleeping-child-i.html, id L20051.
Form and metre
To a Sleeping Child I is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAABBACDCDEE weepA · eyeB · dieB · sleepA · deepA · skyB · lieB · keepA · breathC · reposeD · deathC · uncloseD · leafE · griefE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, 'tis a touching thing, to make one weep,-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A tender infant with its curtain'd eye, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Breathing as it would neither live nor die | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| With that unchanging countenance of sleep! | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| As if its silent dream, serene and deep, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Had lined its slumber with a still blue sky | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So that the passive cheeks unconscious lie | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With no more life than roses--just to keep | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The blushes warm, and the mild, odorous breath. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| O blossom boy! so calm is thy repose. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| So sweet a compromise of life and death, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| 'Tis pity those fair buds should e'er unclose | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| For memory to stain their inward leaf, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Tinging thy dreams with unacquainted grief. | 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.