Friends Departed
They are all gone into the world of light!And I alone sit ling’ring here;Their very memory is fair and bright,And my sad thoughts doth clear.
It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,Like stars upon some gloomy grove,Or those faint beams in which this hill is drestAfter the sun’s remove.
I see them walking in an air of glory,Whose light doth trample on my days:My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,Mere glimmering and decays.
O holy Hope! and high Humility,High as the heavens above!These are your walks, and you have show’d them me,To kindle my cold love.
Dear, beauteous Death! the jewel of the Just,Shining nowhere, but in the dark;What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust,Could man outlook that mark!
He that hath found some fledg’d bird’s nest may know,At first sight, if the bird be flown;But what fair well or grove he sings in now,That is to him unknown.
And yet as Angels in some brighter dreamsCall to the soul, when man doth sleep:So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes,And into glory peep.
If a star were confin’d into a tomb,Her captive flames must needs burn there;But when the hand that lock’d her up gives room,She’ll shine through all the sphere.
O Father of eternal life, and allCreated glories under Thee!Resume Thy spirit from this world of thrallInto true liberty.
Either disperse these mists, which blot and fillMy perspective still as they pass:Or else remove me hence unto that hill,Where I shall need no glass.
Words in this poem
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
- outlook v. t.
- To face down; to outstare.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- transcend v. i.
- To climb; to mount.
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- resume n.
- A summing up; a condensed statement; an abridgment or brief recapitulation. [F. See Resume.]
- perspective a.
- Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical. [L. perspicere, perspectum, to look through; per + spicere, specere, to look: cf. F. perspectif; or from E. perspective, n. See Spy, n.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Friends Departed is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; 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 Vaughan, Friends Departed, in Poems (1621–1695), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-henry-vaughan/friends-departed.html, id L16113.
Form and metre
Friends Departed is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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.
- 1 ABAB lightA · hereB · brightA · clearB
- 2 A-A- breastA · grove · drestA · remove
- 3 ABAB gloryA · daysB · hoaryA · decaysB
- 4 -A-A humility · aboveA · me · loveA
- 5 ABAB justA · darkB · dustA · markB
- 6 -A-A know · flownA · now · unknownA
- 7 ABAB dreamsA · sleepB · themesA · peepB
- 8 ABAB tombA · thereB · roomA · sphereB
- 9 A-A- allA · thee · thrallA · liberty
- 10 ABAB fillA · passB · hillA · glassB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They are all gone into the world of light! | 10 | ·········· |
| And I alone sit ling’ring here; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Their very memory is fair and bright, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| And my sad thoughts doth clear. | 6 | ······ |
| It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Like stars upon some gloomy grove, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest | 10 | ·········· |
| After the sun’s remove. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I see them walking in an air of glory, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Whose light doth trample on my days: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My days, which are at best but dull and hoary, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Mere glimmering and decays. | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| O holy Hope! and high Humility, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| High as the heavens above! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| These are your walks, and you have show’d them me, | 10 | ·········· |
| To kindle my cold love. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Dear, beauteous Death! the jewel of the Just, | 11 | ·/˘˘··/˘··· |
| Shining nowhere, but in the dark; | 8 | /˘/····· |
| What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Could man outlook that mark! | 6 | ··/··· |
| He that hath found some fledg’d bird’s nest may know, | 10 | ·········· |
| At first sight, if the bird be flown; | 8 | ········ |
| But what fair well or grove he sings in now, | 10 | ·········· |
| That is to him unknown. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And yet as Angels in some brighter dreams | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Call to the soul, when man doth sleep: | 8 | ········ |
| So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes, | 11 | ····˘//˘/˘· |
| And into glory peep. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If a star were confin’d into a tomb, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Her captive flames must needs burn there; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But when the hand that lock’d her up gives room, | 10 | ·········· |
| She’ll shine through all the sphere. | 6 | ······ |
| O Father of eternal life, and all | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Created glories under Thee! | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Resume Thy spirit from this world of thrall | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Into true liberty. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Either disperse these mists, which blot and fill | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| My perspective still as they pass: | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Or else remove me hence unto that hill, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Where I shall need no glass. | 6 | ······ |
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.