Influence
The fervent, pale-faced Mother ere she sleep,Looks out upon the zigzag-lighted square,The beautiful bare trees, the blue night-air,The revelation of the star-strewn deep,World above world, and heaven over heaven.Between the tree-tops and the skies, her sightRests on a steadfast, ruddy-shining light,High in the tower, an earthly star of even.Hers is the faith in saints' and angels' power,And mediating love--she breathes a prayerFor yon tired watcher in the gray old tower.He the shrewd, skeptic poet unawareFeels comforted and stilled, and knows not whenceFalls this unwonted peace on heart and sense.
Words in this poem
- fervent a.
- Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
- watcher n.
- One who watches; one who sits up or continues; a diligent observer; specifically, one who attends upon the sick during the night.
- shrewd a.
- Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish. [Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
- unwonted a.
- Not wonted; unaccustomed; unused; not made familiar by practice; as, a child unwonted to strangers.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Influence 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, Influence, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/influence.html, id L01934.
Form and metre
Influence is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBA-CC-DBDBEE sleepA · squareB · airB · deepA · heaven · sightC · lightC · even · powerD · prayerB · towerD · unawareB · whenceE · senseE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The fervent, pale-faced Mother ere she sleep, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Looks out upon the zigzag-lighted square, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The beautiful bare trees, the blue night-air, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| The revelation of the star-strewn deep, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| World above world, and heaven over heaven. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Between the tree-tops and the skies, her sight | 10 | ·········· |
| Rests on a steadfast, ruddy-shining light, | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| High in the tower, an earthly star of even. | 11 | ···/·/˘··/˘ |
| Hers is the faith in saints' and angels' power, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And mediating love--she breathes a prayer | 10 | ·/˘·˘····· |
| For yon tired watcher in the gray old tower. | 11 | ··//˘····/˘ |
| He the shrewd, skeptic poet unaware | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Feels comforted and stilled, and knows not whence | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Falls this unwonted peace on heart and sense. | 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.