If Thou Couldst Know
I think if thou couldst know,Oh soul that will complain,What lies concealed belowOur burden and our pain;How just our anguish bringsNearer those longed-for thingsWe seek for now in vain,--I think thou wouldst rejoice, and not complain.
I think if thou couldst see,With thy dim mortal sight,How meanings, dark to thee,Are shadows hiding light;Truth's efforts crossed and vexed,Life's purpose all perplexed,--If thou couldst see them right,I think that they would seem all clear, and wise, and bright.
And yet thou canst not know,And yet thou canst not see;Wisdom and sight are slowIn poor humanity.If thou couldst trust, poor soul,In Him who rules the whole,Thou wouldst find peace and rest:Wisdom and sight are well, but Trust is best.
About this text
If Thou Couldst Know is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, If Thou Couldst Know, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/if-thou-couldst-know.html, id L21792.
Form and metre
If Thou Couldst Know is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCBB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCCBB knowA · complainB · belowA · painB · bringsC · thingsC · vainB · complainB
- 2 ABABCCBB seeA · sightB · theeA · lightB · vexedC · perplexedC · rightB · brightB
- 3 A-A-BBCC knowA · see · slowA · humanity · soulB · wholeB · restC · bestC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I think if thou couldst know, | 6 | ······ |
| Oh soul that will complain, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| What lies concealed below | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Our burden and our pain; | 6 | //˘·/· |
| How just our anguish brings | 6 | ··//˘· |
| Nearer those longed-for things | 6 | /˘···· |
| We seek for now in vain,-- | 6 | ······ |
| I think thou wouldst rejoice, and not complain. | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| I think if thou couldst see, | 6 | ······ |
| With thy dim mortal sight, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How meanings, dark to thee, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Are shadows hiding light; | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| Truth's efforts crossed and vexed, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Life's purpose all perplexed,-- | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| If thou couldst see them right, | 6 | ······ |
| I think that they would seem all clear, and wise, and bright. | 12 | ············ |
| And yet thou canst not know, | 6 | ······ |
| And yet thou canst not see; | 6 | ······ |
| Wisdom and sight are slow | 6 | /˘···· |
| In poor humanity. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| If thou couldst trust, poor soul, | 6 | ······ |
| In Him who rules the whole, | 6 | ······ |
| Thou wouldst find peace and rest: | 6 | ······ |
| Wisdom and sight are well, but Trust is best. | 10 | /˘········ |
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.