One of the Crowd. Jesus of Nazareth
BARTIMEUS, crying.O Son of David!Have mercy on me!
Peace. Blind Bartimeus!Do not disturb the Master.
BARTIMEUS, crying more vehemently.Son of David,Have mercy on me!
See, the Master stops.Be of good comfort; rise, He calleth thee!
BARTIMEUS, casting away his cloak.Chilion! good neighbors! lead me on.
What wilt thouThat I should do to thee?
Good Lord! my sight--That I receive my sight!
Receive thy sight!Thy faith hath made thee whole!
He sees again!
I see again; but sight bewilders me!Like a remembered dream, familiar thingsCome back to me. I see the tender skyAbove me, see the trees, the city walls,And the old gateway, through whose echoing archI groped so many years; and you, my neighbors;But know you by your friendly voices only.How beautiful the world is! and how wide!Oh, I am miles away, if I but look!Where art thou, Chilion?
Father, I am here.
Oh let me gaze upon thy face, dear child!For I have only seen thee with my hands!How beautiful thou art! I should have known thee;Thou hast her eyes whom we shall see hereafter!O God of Abraham! Elion! Adonai!Who art thyself a Father, pardon meIf for a moment I have thee postponedTo the affections and the thoughts of earth,Thee, and the adoration that I owe thee,When by thy power alone these darkened eyesHave been unsealed again to see thy light!
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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,]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- adonai n.
- A Hebrew name for God, usually translated in the Old Testament by the word
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
One of the Crowd. Jesus of Nazareth 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, One of the Crowd. Jesus of Nazareth, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/one-of-the-crowd-jesus-of-nazareth.html, id L17873.
Form and metre
One of the Crowd. Jesus of Nazareth is 41 lines in 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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.
- 7 AA sightA · sightA
- 10 A-A------- meA · things · skyA · walls · arch · neighbors · only · wide · look · chilion
- 12 --A--A--A-- child · hands · theeA · hereafter · adonai · meA · postponed · earth · theeA · eyes · light
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BARTIMEUS, crying. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| O Son of David! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Have mercy on me! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Peace. Blind Bartimeus! | 5 | ····· |
| Do not disturb the Master. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| BARTIMEUS, crying more vehemently. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Son of David, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Have mercy on me! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| See, the Master stops. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Be of good comfort; rise, He calleth thee! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| BARTIMEUS, casting away his cloak. | 9 | ···/˘˘/·· |
| Chilion! good neighbors! lead me on. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What wilt thou | 3 | ··· |
| That I should do to thee? | 6 | ······ |
| Good Lord! my sight-- | 4 | ···· |
| That I receive my sight! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Receive thy sight! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Thy faith hath made thee whole! | 6 | ······ |
| He sees again! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| I see again; but sight bewilders me! | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Like a remembered dream, familiar things | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Come back to me. I see the tender sky | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Above me, see the trees, the city walls, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the old gateway, through whose echoing arch | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| I groped so many years; and you, my neighbors; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| But know you by your friendly voices only. | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| How beautiful the world is! and how wide! | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Oh, I am miles away, if I but look! | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Where art thou, Chilion? | 5 | ····· |
| Father, I am here. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Oh let me gaze upon thy face, dear child! | 10 | ·········· |
| For I have only seen thee with my hands! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| How beautiful thou art! I should have known thee; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thou hast her eyes whom we shall see hereafter! | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| O God of Abraham! Elion! Adonai! | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Who art thyself a Father, pardon me | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| If for a moment I have thee postponed | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To the affections and the thoughts of earth, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Thee, and the adoration that I owe thee, | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| When by thy power alone these darkened eyes | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| Have been unsealed again to see thy light! | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
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