The Power of Love
Samson the Mighty, SolomonThe Wise, and Holy David allMust doff their crowns to Love, for noneBut fell as Love would scorn to fall!And what may fallen spirits win,When stripes and precepts cannot move?Only the sadness of all sin,When look’d at in the light of Love.
Words in this poem
- solomon n.
- One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man.
- doff v. t.
- To put off, as dress; to divest one's self of; hence, figuratively, to put or thrust away; to rid one's self of. And made us doff our easy robes of peace. [Do + off. See Do, v. t., 7.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Power of Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Angel in the House, Project Gutenberg ebook #4099; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Coventry Patmore, The Power of Love, in The Angel in the House (1854–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4099, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/patmore-angel/the-power-of-love.html, id L12296.
Form and metre
The Power of Love is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABABCDCD solomonA · allB · noneA · fallB · winC · moveD · sinC · loveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Samson the Mighty, Solomon | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| The Wise, and Holy David all | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Must doff their crowns to Love, for none | 8 | ········ |
| But fell as Love would scorn to fall! | 8 | ········ |
| And what may fallen spirits win, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When stripes and precepts cannot move? | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Only the sadness of all sin, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| When look’d at in the light 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.