Sympathy
Therefore I dare reveal my private woe,The secret blots of my imperfect heart,Nor strive to shrink or swell mine own desert,Nor beautify nor hide. For this I know,That even as I am, thou also art.Thou past heroic forms unmoved shalt go,To pause and bide with me, to whisper low:"Not I alone am weak, not I apartMust suffer, struggle, conquer day by day.Here is my very cross by strangers borne,Here is my bosom-sun wherefrom I prayHourly deliverance--this my rose, my thorn.This woman my soul's need can understand,Stretching o'er silent gulfs her sister hand."
Words in this poem
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- 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.]
- hourly a.
- Happening or done every hour; occurring hour by hour; frequent; often repeated; renewed hour by hour; continual.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sympathy 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, Sympathy, in Admetus, and Other Poems (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/sympathy-2.html, id L01929.
Form and metre
Sympathy is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 AB-ABAABCDCDEE woeA · heartB · desert · knowA · artB · goA · lowA · apartB · dayC · borneD · prayC · thornD · understandE · handE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Therefore I dare reveal my private woe, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| The secret blots of my imperfect heart, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Nor strive to shrink or swell mine own desert, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Nor beautify nor hide. For this I know, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That even as I am, thou also art. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Thou past heroic forms unmoved shalt go, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| To pause and bide with me, to whisper low: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| "Not I alone am weak, not I apart | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Must suffer, struggle, conquer day by day. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Here is my very cross by strangers borne, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Here is my bosom-sun wherefrom I pray | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Hourly deliverance--this my rose, my thorn. | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| This woman my soul's need can understand, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Stretching o'er silent gulfs her sister hand." | 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.