Opening Poem to a Year's Life
Hope first the youthful Poet leads,And he is glad to follow her;Kind is she, and to all his needsWith a free hand doth minister.
But, when sweet Hope at last hath fled,Cometh her sister, Memory;She wreathes Hope's garlands round her head,And strives to seem as fair as she.
Then Hope comes back, and by the handShe leads a child most fair to see,Who with a joyous face doth standUniting Hope and Memory.
So brighter grew the Earth around,And bluer grew the sky above;The Poet now his guide hath found,And follows in the steps of Love.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Opening Poem to a Year's Life is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of James Russell Lowell With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell Dole, Project Gutenberg ebook #38520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Russell Lowell, Opening Poem to a Year's Life, in Poems (1844–1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-james-russell-poems/opening-poem-to-a-year-s-life.html, id L13612.
Form and metre
Opening Poem to a Year's Life is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 A-A- leadsA · her · needsA · minister
- 2 A-A- fledA · memory · headA · she
- 3 A-A- handA · see · standA · memory
- 4 ABAB aroundA · aboveB · foundA · loveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hope first the youthful Poet leads, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And he is glad to follow her; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Kind is she, and to all his needs | 8 | ········ |
| With a free hand doth minister. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| But, when sweet Hope at last hath fled, | 8 | ········ |
| Cometh her sister, Memory; | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| She wreathes Hope's garlands round her head, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And strives to seem as fair as she. | 8 | ········ |
| Then Hope comes back, and by the hand | 8 | ········ |
| She leads a child most fair to see, | 8 | ········ |
| Who with a joyous face doth stand | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Uniting Hope and Memory. | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| So brighter grew the Earth around, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And bluer grew the sky above; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Poet now his guide hath found, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And follows in the steps of Love. | 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.