To Hope
Oh! take, young Seraph, take thy harp,And play to me so cheerily;For grief is dark, and care is sharp,And life wears on so wearily.Oh! take thy harp!Oh! sing as thou wert wont to do,When, all youth's sunny season long,I sat and listened to thy song,And yet 'twas ever, ever new,With magic in its heaven-tuned string--The future bliss thy constant theme.Oh! then each little woe took wingAway, like phantoms of a dream;As if each soundThat flutter'd round,Had floated over Lethe's stream!
By all those bright and happy hoursWe spent in life's sweet eastern bow'rs,Where thou wouldst sit and smile, and show,Ere buds were come, where flowers would blow,And oft anticipate the riseOf life's warm sun that scaled the skies;By many a story of love and glory,And friendships promised oft to me;By all the faith I lent to thee,--Oh! take, young Seraph, take thy harp,And play to me so cheerily;For grief is dark, and care is sharp,And life wears on so wearily.Oh! take thy harp!
Perchance the strings will sound less clear,That long have lain neglected byIn sorrow's misty atmosphere;It ne'er may speak as it hath spokenSuch joyous notes so brisk and high;But are its golden chords all broken?Are there not some, though weak and low,To play a lullaby to woe?But thou canst sing of love no more,For Celia show'd that dream was vain;And many a fancied bliss is o'er,That comes not e'en in dreams again.Alas! alas!How pleasures pass,And leave thee now no subject, saveThe peace and bliss beyond the grave!
Then be thy flight among the skies:Take, then, oh! take the skylark's wing,And leave dull earth, and heavenward riseO'er all its tearful clouds, and singOn skylark's wing!
Another life-spring there adornsAnother youth--without the dreadOf cruel care, whose crown of thornsIs here for manhood's aching head.Oh! there are realms of welcome day,A world where tears are wiped away!Then be thy flight among the skies:Take, then, oh! take the skylark's wing,And leave dull earth, and heavenward riseO'er all its tearful clouds, and singOn skylark's wing!
Words in this poem
- cheerily adv.
- In a cheery manner.
- wearily adv.
- In a weary manner.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- scaled a.
- Covered with scales, or scalelike structures; -- said of a fish, a reptile, a moth, etc.
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Hope 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 Hope, 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-hope.html, id L20043.
Form and metre
To Hope is 62 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 A-A-ABCCBDEDEFFE harpA · cheerily · sharpA · wearily · harpA · doB · longC · songC · newB · stringD · themeE · wingD · dreamE · soundF · roundF · streamE
- 2 A-BBAA-CCD-D-D hoursA · bow'rs · showB · blowB · riseA · skiesA · glory · meC · theeC · harpD · cheerily · sharpD · wearily · harpD
- 3 ABACBCDD-E-EFFGG clearA · byB · atmosphereA · spokenC · highB · brokenC · lowD · woeD · more · vainE · o'er · againE · alasF · passF · saveG · graveG
- 4 ABABB skiesA · wingB · riseA · singB · wingB
- 5 ABABCCDEDEE adornsA · dreadB · thornsA · headB · dayC · awayC · skiesD · wingE · riseD · singE · wingE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! take, young Seraph, take thy harp, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And play to me so cheerily; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| For grief is dark, and care is sharp, | 8 | ········ |
| And life wears on so wearily. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Oh! take thy harp! | 4 | ···· |
| Oh! sing as thou wert wont to do, | 8 | ········ |
| When, all youth's sunny season long, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I sat and listened to thy song, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And yet 'twas ever, ever new, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With magic in its heaven-tuned string-- | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| The future bliss thy constant theme. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Oh! then each little woe took wing | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Away, like phantoms of a dream; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| As if each sound | 4 | ···· |
| That flutter'd round, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Had floated over Lethe's stream! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| By all those bright and happy hours | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| We spent in life's sweet eastern bow'rs, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where thou wouldst sit and smile, and show, | 8 | ········ |
| Ere buds were come, where flowers would blow, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And oft anticipate the rise | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Of life's warm sun that scaled the skies; | 8 | ········ |
| By many a story of love and glory, | 10 | ·/·/˘···/˘ |
| And friendships promised oft to me; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| By all the faith I lent to thee,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Oh! take, young Seraph, take thy harp, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And play to me so cheerily; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| For grief is dark, and care is sharp, | 8 | ········ |
| And life wears on so wearily. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Oh! take thy harp! | 4 | ···· |
| Perchance the strings will sound less clear, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| That long have lain neglected by | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| In sorrow's misty atmosphere; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| It ne'er may speak as it hath spoken | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Such joyous notes so brisk and high; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But are its golden chords all broken? | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Are there not some, though weak and low, | 8 | ········ |
| To play a lullaby to woe? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But thou canst sing of love no more, | 8 | ········ |
| For Celia show'd that dream was vain; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And many a fancied bliss is o'er, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| That comes not e'en in dreams again. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Alas! alas! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| How pleasures pass, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And leave thee now no subject, save | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| The peace and bliss beyond the grave! | 8 | ········ |
| Then be thy flight among the skies: | 8 | ········ |
| Take, then, oh! take the skylark's wing, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And leave dull earth, and heavenward rise | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| O'er all its tearful clouds, and sing | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On skylark's wing! | 4 | ·/·· |
| Another life-spring there adorns | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Another youth--without the dread | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Of cruel care, whose crown of thorns | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is here for manhood's aching head. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Oh! there are realms of welcome day, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A world where tears are wiped away! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then be thy flight among the skies: | 8 | ········ |
| Take, then, oh! take the skylark's wing, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And leave dull earth, and heavenward rise | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| O'er all its tearful clouds, and sing | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On skylark's wing! | 4 | ·/·· |
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.