Symbolum Apostolorum
PETER.I believe in God the Father Almighty;
JOHN.Maker of heaven and Earth;
JAMES.And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
ANDREW.Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;
PHILIP.Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
THOMAS.And the third day He rose again from the dead;
BARTHOLOMEW.He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God,the Father Almighty;
MATTHEW.From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church;
The communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins;
JUDE.The resurrection of the body;
MATTHIAS.And the Life Everlasting.
Words in this poem
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Symbolum Apostolorum 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, Symbolum Apostolorum, in Christus: A Mystery (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-christus/symbolum-apostolorum.html, id L19189.
Form and metre
Symbolum Apostolorum is 23 lines in 12 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| PETER. | 2 | /˘ |
| I believe in God the Father Almighty; | 11 | ·˘/···/˘˘/˘ |
| JOHN. | 1 | · |
| Maker of heaven and Earth; | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| JAMES. | 1 | · |
| And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; | 11 | ··/˘··/˘·/· |
| ANDREW. | 2 | /˘ |
| Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; | 16 | ··˘/··/˘····/˘/˘ |
| PHILIP. | 2 | /˘ |
| Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; | 16 | /˘··/˘···/˘···/˘ |
| THOMAS. | 2 | /˘ |
| And the third day He rose again from the dead; | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| BARTHOLOMEW. | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, | 16 | ·˘/˘··/·/˘······ |
| the Father Almighty; | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| MATTHEW. | 2 | /˘ |
| From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. | 12 | ············ |
| I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; | 14 | ·˘/··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; | 12 | ·˘/˘···˘/˘·· |
| JUDE. | 1 | · |
| The resurrection of the body; | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| MATTHIAS. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| And the Life Everlasting. | 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.