St. John's, Cambridge
I stand beneath the tree, whose branches shadeThy western window, Chapel of St. John!And hear its leaves repeat their benisonOn him, whose hand if thy stones memorial laid;Then I remember one of whom was saidIn the world's darkest hour, "Behold thy son!"And see him living still, and wandering onAnd waiting for the advent long delayed.Not only tongues of the apostles teachLessons of love and light, but these expandingAnd sheltering boughs with all their leaves implore,And say in language clear as human speech,"The peace of God, that passeth understanding,Be and abide with you forevermore!"
Words in this poem
- benison n.
- Blessing; beatitude; benediction. [OE. beneysun, benesoun, OF. beneï, beneïson, fr. L. benedictio, fr. benedicere to bless; bene (adv. of bonus good) + dicere to say. See Bounty, and Diction, and]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
St. John's, Cambridge 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, St. John's, Cambridge, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/st-john-s-cambridge.html, id L19118.
Form and metre
St. John's, Cambridge is 14 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-A--BACDECDE shadeA · johnB · benison · laidA · said · son · onB · delayedA · teachC · expandingD · imploreE · speechC · understandingD · forevermoreE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I stand beneath the tree, whose branches shade | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thy western window, Chapel of St. John! | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And hear its leaves repeat their benison | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| On him, whose hand if thy stones memorial laid; | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| Then I remember one of whom was said | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| In the world's darkest hour, "Behold thy son!" | 10 | ···/˘/˘/·· |
| And see him living still, and wandering on | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And waiting for the advent long delayed. | 10 | ·/˘··/··˘/ |
| Not only tongues of the apostles teach | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Lessons of love and light, but these expanding | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| And sheltering boughs with all their leaves implore, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And say in language clear as human speech, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| "The peace of God, that passeth understanding, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Be and abide with you forevermore!" | 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.