Vox Clamantis
Repent! repent! repent!For the kingdom of God is at hand,And all the landFull of the knowledge of the Lord shall beAs the waters cover the sea,And encircle the continent!
Repent! repent! repent!For lo, the hour appointed,The hour so long foretoldBy the Prophets of old,Of the coming of the Anointed,The Messiah, the Paraclete,The Desire of the Nations, is nigh!He shall not strive nor cry,Nor his voice be heard in the street;Nor the bruised reed shall He break,Nor quench the smoking flax;And many of them that sleepIn the dust of earth shall awake,On that great and terrible day,And the wicked shall wail and weep,And be blown like a smoke away,And be melted away like wax.Repent! repent! repent!
O Priest, and Pharisee,Who hath warned you to fleeFrom the wrath that is to be?From the coming anguish and ire?The axe is laid at the rootOf the trees, and every treeThat bringeth not forth good fruitIs hewn down and cast into the fire!
Ye Scribes, why come ye hither?In the hour that is uncertain,In the day of anguish and trouble,He that stretcheth the heavens as a curtainAnd spreadeth them out as a tent,Shall blow upon you, and ye shall wither,And the whirlwind shall take you away as stubble!Repent! repent! repent!
Who art thou, O man of prayer!In raiment of camel's hair,Begirt with leathern thong,That here in the wilderness,With a cry as of one in distress,Preachest unto this throng?Art thou the Christ?
Priest of Jerusalem,In meekness and humbleness,I deny not, I confessI am not the Christ!
What shall we say unto themThat sent us here? RevealThy name, and naught conceal!Art thou Elias?
Words in this poem
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
- 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,]
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- paraclete n.
- An advocate; one called to aid or support; hence, the Consoler, Comforter, or Intercessor; -- a term applied to the Holy Spirit.
- begirt v. t.
- To encompass; to begird.
- leathern a.
- Made of leather; consisting of. leather; as, a leathern purse.
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
- humbleness n.
- The quality of being humble; humility; meekness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vox Clamantis 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, Vox Clamantis, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/vox-clamantis.html, id L17853.
Form and metre
Vox Clamantis is 55 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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- repent · handA · landA · beB · seaB · continent
- 2 ABCCBDEEDFGHFIHIGA repentA · appointedB · foretoldC · oldC · anointedB · paracleteD · nighE · cryE · streetD · breakF · flaxG · sleepH · awakeF · dayI · weepH · awayI · waxG · repentA
- 3 AAABCACB phariseeA · fleeA · beA · ireB · rootC · treeA · fruitC · fireB
- 4 ABCBDACD hitherA · uncertainB · troubleC · curtainB · tentD · witherA · stubbleC · repentD
- 5 AABCCB- prayerA · hairA · thongB · wildernessC · distressC · throngB · christ
- 6 -AA- jerusalem · humblenessA · confessA · christ
- 7 -AA- them · revealA · concealA · elias
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Repent! repent! repent! | 6 | ˘/˘/˘/ |
| For the kingdom of God is at hand, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And all the land | 4 | ···· |
| Full of the knowledge of the Lord shall be | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As the waters cover the sea, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| And encircle the continent! | 8 | ·˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| Repent! repent! repent! | 6 | ˘/˘/˘/ |
| For lo, the hour appointed, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| The hour so long foretold | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| By the Prophets of old, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Of the coming of the Anointed, | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| The Messiah, the Paraclete, | 8 | ·˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| The Desire of the Nations, is nigh! | 10 | ·˘/˘··/˘·· |
| He shall not strive nor cry, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor his voice be heard in the street; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor the bruised reed shall He break, | 7 | ······· |
| Nor quench the smoking flax; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And many of them that sleep | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| In the dust of earth shall awake, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| On that great and terrible day, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| And the wicked shall wail and weep, | 9 | ··/˘˘···· |
| And be blown like a smoke away, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And be melted away like wax. | 8 | ··/˘˘/·· |
| Repent! repent! repent! | 6 | ˘/˘/˘/ |
| O Priest, and Pharisee, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Who hath warned you to flee | 6 | ······ |
| From the wrath that is to be? | 7 | ······· |
| From the coming anguish and ire? | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| The axe is laid at the root | 7 | ······· |
| Of the trees, and every tree | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| That bringeth not forth good fruit | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Is hewn down and cast into the fire! | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Ye Scribes, why come ye hither? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In the hour that is uncertain, | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| In the day of anguish and trouble, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| He that stretcheth the heavens as a curtain | 11 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| And spreadeth them out as a tent, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shall blow upon you, and ye shall wither, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And the whirlwind shall take you away as stubble! | 12 | ··/····˘/·/˘ |
| Repent! repent! repent! | 6 | ˘/˘/˘/ |
| Who art thou, O man of prayer! | 7 | ······· |
| In raiment of camel's hair, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Begirt with leathern thong, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| That here in the wilderness, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| With a cry as of one in distress, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Preachest unto this throng? | 6 | /˘···· |
| Art thou the Christ? | 4 | ···· |
| Priest of Jerusalem, | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| In meekness and humbleness, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘˘ |
| I deny not, I confess | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| I am not the Christ! | 5 | ····· |
| What shall we say unto them | 7 | ······· |
| That sent us here? Reveal | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Thy name, and naught conceal! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Art thou Elias? | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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.