First Hour
THAT cry hath stirred the deadness of my soul;I feel a heart-string throb, as throbs a chordWhen breaks the master chord of some great harp;My heart responsive answers, "Why?" O Lord.
O cross of pain! O crown of cruel thorns!O piercing nails! O spotless Sufferer there!Wert thou forsaken in thy deadly strife?Then canst thou pity me in my despair.
Take my dead heart, O Jesus, down with theeTo that still sepulchre where thou didst rest;Lay it in the fair linen's spicy folds,As a dear mother lays her babe to rest.
I am so worn, so weary, so o'erspent,To lie with thee in that calm trance were sweet;The bitter myrrh of long-remembered painMay work in me new strength to rise again.
This dark and weary mystery of woe,This hopeless struggle, this most useless strife,--Ah, let it end! I die with thee, my Lord,To all I ever hoped or wished from life.
I die with thee: thy fellowship of grief,Thy partnership with mortal misery,The weary watching and the nameless dread,--Let them be mine to make me one with thee.
Thou hast asked, "Why?" and God will answer thee,Therefore I ask not, but in peace lie down,For the three days of mystery and rest,Till comes the resurrection and the crown.
Words in this poem
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- responsive a.
- That responds; ready or inclined to respond. [Cf. F. resposif.]
- sufferer n.
- One who suffers; one who endures or undergoes suffering; one who sustains inconvenience or loss; as, sufferers by poverty or sickness; men are sufferers by fire or by losses at sea.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- sepulchre n.
- The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. sépulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
First Hour is in the public domain. This text is taken from Religious Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #44778; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harriet Beecher Stowe, First Hour, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/first-hour.html, id L22723.
Form and metre
First Hour is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 -A-A soul · chordA · harp · lordA
- 2 -A-A thorns · thereA · strife · despairA
- 3 -A-A thee · restA · folds · restA
- 4 --AA o'erspent · sweet · painA · againA
- 5 -A-A woe · strifeA · lord · lifeA
- 7 -A-A thee · downA · rest · crownA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THAT cry hath stirred the deadness of my soul; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I feel a heart-string throb, as throbs a chord | 10 | ·········· |
| When breaks the master chord of some great harp; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My heart responsive answers, "Why?" O Lord. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| O cross of pain! O crown of cruel thorns! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O piercing nails! O spotless Sufferer there! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Wert thou forsaken in thy deadly strife? | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Then canst thou pity me in my despair. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Take my dead heart, O Jesus, down with thee | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To that still sepulchre where thou didst rest; | 9 | ········· |
| Lay it in the fair linen's spicy folds, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| As a dear mother lays her babe to rest. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I am so worn, so weary, so o'erspent, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To lie with thee in that calm trance were sweet; | 10 | ·········· |
| The bitter myrrh of long-remembered pain | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| May work in me new strength to rise again. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| This dark and weary mystery of woe, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| This hopeless struggle, this most useless strife,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Ah, let it end! I die with thee, my Lord, | 10 | ·········· |
| To all I ever hoped or wished from life. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I die with thee: thy fellowship of grief, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thy partnership with mortal misery, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| The weary watching and the nameless dread,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Let them be mine to make me one with thee. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou hast asked, "Why?" and God will answer thee, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Therefore I ask not, but in peace lie down, | 10 | ·········· |
| For the three days of mystery and rest, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Till comes the resurrection and the crown. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
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