The Sermon of St. Francis
Up soared the lark into the air,A shaft of song, a winged prayer,As if a soul, released from pain,Were flying back to heaven again.
St. Francis heard; it was to himAn emblem of the Seraphim;The upward motion of the fire,The light, the heat, the heart's desire.
Around Assisi's convent gateThe birds, God's poor who cannot wait,From moor and mere and darksome woodCame flocking for their dole of food.
"O brother birds," St. Francis said,"Ye come to me and ask for bread,But not with bread alone to-dayShall ye be fed and sent away.
"Ye shall be fed, ye happy birds,With manna of celestial words;Not mine, though mine they seem to be,Not mine, though they be spoken through me.
"O, doubly are ye bound to praiseThe great Creator in your lays;He giveth you your plumes of down,Your crimson hoods, your cloaks of brown.
"He giveth you your wings to flyAnd breathe a purer air on high,And careth for you everywhere,Who for yourselves so little care!"
With flutter of swift wings and songsTogether rose the feathered throngs,And singing scattered far apart;Deep peace was in St. Francis' heart.
He knew not if the brotherhoodHis homily had understood;He only knew that to one earThe meaning of his words was clear.
Words in this poem
- seraphim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Seraph. Cf. Cherubim.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- 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,]
- homily n.
- A discourse or sermon read or pronounced to an audience; a serious discourse. [LL. homilia, Gr. homélie. See Same.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sermon of St. Francis 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, The Sermon of St. Francis, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-sermon-of-st-francis.html, id L17776.
Form and metre
The Sermon of St. Francis is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABB airA · prayerA · painB · againB
- 2 AABB himA · seraphimA · fireB · desireB
- 3 AABB gateA · waitA · woodB · foodB
- 4 AABB saidA · breadA · dayB · awayB
- 5 AABB birdsA · wordsA · beB · meB
- 6 AABB praiseA · laysA · downB · brownB
- 7 AABB flyA · highA · everywhereB · careB
- 8 AABB songsA · throngsA · apartB · heartB
- 9 AABB brotherhoodA · understoodA · earB · clearB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Up soared the lark into the air, | 8 | ········ |
| A shaft of song, a winged prayer, | 8 | ······˘· |
| As if a soul, released from pain, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Were flying back to heaven again. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘/ |
| St. Francis heard; it was to him | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An emblem of the Seraphim; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The upward motion of the fire, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| The light, the heat, the heart's desire. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Around Assisi's convent gate | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| The birds, God's poor who cannot wait, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From moor and mere and darksome wood | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Came flocking for their dole of food. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "O brother birds," St. Francis said, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "Ye come to me and ask for bread, | 8 | ········ |
| But not with bread alone to-day | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Shall ye be fed and sent away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| "Ye shall be fed, ye happy birds, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With manna of celestial words; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Not mine, though mine they seem to be, | 8 | ········ |
| Not mine, though they be spoken through me. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "O, doubly are ye bound to praise | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The great Creator in your lays; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| He giveth you your plumes of down, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Your crimson hoods, your cloaks of brown. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "He giveth you your wings to fly | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And breathe a purer air on high, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And careth for you everywhere, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who for yourselves so little care!" | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| With flutter of swift wings and songs | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Together rose the feathered throngs, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| And singing scattered far apart; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Deep peace was in St. Francis' heart. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He knew not if the brotherhood | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His homily had understood; | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| He only knew that to one ear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The meaning of his words was clear. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.