A Hymn for Family Worship
O Lord, another day is flown,And we, a lonely band,Are met once more before thy throne,To bless thy fostering hand.
And wilt thou bend a listening ear,To praises low as ours?Thou wilt! for thou dost love to hearThe song which meekness pours.
And, Jesus, thou thy smiles wilt deign,As we before thee pray;For thou didst bless the infant train,And we are less than they.
O let thy grace perform its part,And let contention cease;And shed abroad in every heartThine everlasting peace!
Thus chasten'd, cleansed, entirely thine,A flock by Jesus led;The Sun of Holiness shall shineIn glory on our head.
And thou wilt turn our wandering feet,And thou wilt bless our way;Till worlds shall fade, and faith shall greetThe dawn of lasting day.
Words in this poem
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Hymn for Family Worship is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White : With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, Project Gutenberg ebook #7149; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Kirke White, A Hymn for Family Worship, in The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White (1803–1806), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7149, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kirke-white-poems/a-hymn-for-family-worship.html, id L10148.
Form and metre
A Hymn for Family Worship is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB flownA · bandB · throneA · handB
- 2 A-A- earA · ours · hearA · pours
- 3 ABAB deignA · prayB · trainA · theyB
- 4 ABAB partA · ceaseB · heartA · peaceB
- 5 ABAB thineA · ledB · shineA · headB
- 6 ABAB feetA · wayB · greetA · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Lord, another day is flown, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And we, a lonely band, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Are met once more before thy throne, | 8 | ········ |
| To bless thy fostering hand. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And wilt thou bend a listening ear, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| To praises low as ours? | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Thou wilt! for thou dost love to hear | 8 | ········ |
| The song which meekness pours. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And, Jesus, thou thy smiles wilt deign, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As we before thee pray; | 6 | ······ |
| For thou didst bless the infant train, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And we are less than they. | 6 | ······ |
| O let thy grace perform its part, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And let contention cease; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And shed abroad in every heart | 9 | ··˘/·/˘˘· |
| Thine everlasting peace! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Thus chasten'd, cleansed, entirely thine, | 10 | ·/˘·˘˘/˘˘· |
| A flock by Jesus led; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The Sun of Holiness shall shine | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| In glory on our head. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And thou wilt turn our wandering feet, | 10 | ····/˘/˘˘· |
| And thou wilt bless our way; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Till worlds shall fade, and faith shall greet | 8 | ········ |
| The dawn of lasting day. | 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.