Hope
Her languid pulses thrill with sudden hope,That will not be forgot nor cast aside,And life in statelier vistas seems to ope,Illimitably lofty, long, and wide.What doth she know? She is subdued and mild,Quiet and docile "as a weaned child."
If grief came in such unimagined wise,How may joy dawn? In what undreamed-of hour,May the light break with splendor of surprise,Disclosing all the mercy and the power?A baseless hope, yet vivid, keen, and bright,As the wild lightning in the starless night.
She knows not whence it came, nor where it passed,But it revealed, in one brief flash of flame,A heaven so high, a world so rich and vast,That, full of meek contrition and mute shame,In patient silence hopefully withdrawn,She bows her head, and bides the certain dawn.
Words in this poem
- docile a.
- Teachable; easy to teach; docible. [L. docilis,fr. docere to teach; cf. Gr. discere to learn, Gr. docile. Cf. Doctor, Didactic, Disciple.]
- baseless a.
- Without a base; having no foundation or support.
- starless a.
- Being without stars; having no stars visible; as, a starless night.
- contrition n.
- The act of grinding or ribbing to powder; attrition; friction; rubbing. [F. contrition, L. contritio.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hope is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, Hope, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/hope.html, id L01874.
Form and metre
Hope is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 ABABCC hopeA · asideB · opeA · wideB · mildC · childC
- 2 ABABCC wiseA · hourB · surpriseA · powerB · brightC · nightC
- 3 ABABCC passedA · flameB · vastA · shameB · withdrawnC · dawnC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Her languid pulses thrill with sudden hope, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| That will not be forgot nor cast aside, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| And life in statelier vistas seems to ope, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Illimitably lofty, long, and wide. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What doth she know? She is subdued and mild, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Quiet and docile "as a weaned child." | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘· |
| If grief came in such unimagined wise, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| How may joy dawn? In what undreamed-of hour, | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| May the light break with splendor of surprise, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Disclosing all the mercy and the power? | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| A baseless hope, yet vivid, keen, and bright, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| As the wild lightning in the starless night. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| She knows not whence it came, nor where it passed, | 10 | ·········· |
| But it revealed, in one brief flash of flame, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| A heaven so high, a world so rich and vast, | 10 | ·/········ |
| That, full of meek contrition and mute shame, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| In patient silence hopefully withdrawn, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| She bows her head, and bides the certain dawn. | 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.