Patience
The passion of despair is quelled at last;The cruel sense of undeserved wrong,The wild self-pity, these are also past;She knows not what may come, but she is strong;She feels she hath not aught to lose nor gain,Her patience is the essence of all pain.
As one who sits beside a lapsing stream,She sees the flow of changeless day by day,Too sick and tired to think, too sad to dream,Nor cares how soon the waters slip away,Nor where they lead; at the wise God's decree,She will depart or bide indifferently.
There is deeper pathos in the mildAnd settled sorrow of the quiet eyes,Than in the tumults of the anguish wild,That made her curse all things beneath the skies;No question, no reproaches, no complaint,Hers is the holy calm of some meek saint.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- indifferently adv.
- In an indifferent manner; without distinction or preference; impartially; without concern, wish, affection, or aversion; tolerably; passably.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Patience 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, Patience, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/patience.html, id L01873.
Form and metre
Patience is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% 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 ABABCC lastA · wrongB · pastA · strongB · gainC · painC
- 2 ABAB-- streamA · dayB · dreamA · awayB · decree · indifferently
- 3 ABABCC mildA · eyesB · wildA · skiesB · complaintC · saintC
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 passion of despair is quelled at last; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| The cruel sense of undeserved wrong, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| The wild self-pity, these are also past; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| She knows not what may come, but she is strong; | 10 | ·········· |
| She feels she hath not aught to lose nor gain, | 10 | ·········· |
| Her patience is the essence of all pain. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| As one who sits beside a lapsing stream, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| She sees the flow of changeless day by day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Too sick and tired to think, too sad to dream, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Nor cares how soon the waters slip away, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Nor where they lead; at the wise God's decree, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| She will depart or bide indifferently. | 11 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘˘ |
| There is deeper pathos in the mild | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And settled sorrow of the quiet eyes, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Than in the tumults of the anguish wild, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That made her curse all things beneath the skies; | 10 | ·········· |
| No question, no reproaches, no complaint, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Hers is the holy calm of some meek saint. | 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.