Elsie's Chamber
ELSIE.My Redeemer and my Lord,I beseech thee, I entreat thee,Guide me in each act and word,That hereafter I may meet thee,Watching, waiting, hoping, yearning,With my lamp well trimmed and burning!
IntercedingWith these bleedingWounds upon thy hands and side,For all who have lived and erredThou hast suffered, thou hast died,Scourged, and mocked, and crucified,And in the grave hast thou been buried!
If my feeble prayer can reach thee,O my Saviour, I beseech thee,Even as thou hast died for me,More sincerelyLet me follow where thou leadest,Let me, bleeding as thou bleedest,Die, if dying I may giveLife to one who asks to live,And more nearly,Dying thus, resemble thee!
Words in this poem
- redeemer n.
- One who redeems.
- entreat v. t.
- To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use. [OE. entreten to treat, request, OF. entraiter to treat of; pref. en- (L. in) + traitier to treat. See Treat.]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
- sincerely adv.
- In a sincere manner. Specifically: (a) Purely; without alloy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Elsie's Chamber is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; 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 Wadsworth Longfellow, Elsie's Chamber, in Christus: A Mystery (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-christus/elsie-s-chamber.html, id L19197.
Form and metre
Elsie's Chamber is 24 lines in 3 stanzas.
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 --A-ABB elsie · lord · theeA · word · theeA · yearningB · burningB
- 2 AAB-BBB intercedingA · bleedingA · sideB · erred · diedB · crucifiedB · buriedB
- 3 AAAB--CCBA theeA · theeA · meA · sincerelyB · leadest · bleedest · giveC · liveC · nearlyB · theeA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ELSIE. | 2 | /˘ |
| My Redeemer and my Lord, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| I beseech thee, I entreat thee, | 8 | ·˘/··˘/· |
| Guide me in each act and word, | 7 | ······· |
| That hereafter I may meet thee, | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Watching, waiting, hoping, yearning, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| With my lamp well trimmed and burning! | 9 | ·····˘·/˘ |
| Interceding | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| With these bleeding | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Wounds upon thy hands and side, | 7 | ······· |
| For all who have lived and erred | 7 | ······· |
| Thou hast suffered, thou hast died, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Scourged, and mocked, and crucified, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And in the grave hast thou been buried! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| If my feeble prayer can reach thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| O my Saviour, I beseech thee, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Even as thou hast died for me, | 8 | /˘······ |
| More sincerely | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Let me follow where thou leadest, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Let me, bleeding as thou bleedest, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Die, if dying I may give | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Life to one who asks to live, | 7 | ······· |
| And more nearly, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Dying thus, resemble thee! | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
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.