Holy Week, April, 1860
O FAIREST mansion of a Father's love,Harmonious! hospitable! with thine armsOutspread to all, thy fountains ever full,And, fair as heaven, thy misty, sky-like domeHung like the firmament with circling sweepAbove the constellated golden lampsThat burn forever round the holy tomb.Most meet art thou to be the Father's house,The house of prayer for nations. Come the timeWhen thou shalt be so! when a liberty,Wide as thine arms, high as thy lofty dome,Shall be proclaimed, by thy loud singing choirs,Like voice of many waters! Then the LordShall come into his temple, and make pureThe sons of Levi; then, as once of old,The blind shall see, the lame leap as an hart,And to the poor the Gospel shall be preached,And Easter's silver-sounding trumpets tell,"The Lord is risen indeed," to die no more.Hasten it in its time. Amen! Amen!
Words in this poem
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- 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,]
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Holy Week, April, 1860 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, Holy Week, April, 1860, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/holy-week-april-1860.html, id L22730.
Form and metre
Holy Week, April, 1860 is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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--------- love · arms · full · domeA · sweep · lamps · tomb · house · time · liberty · domeA · choirs · lord · pure · old · hart · preached · tell · more · amen
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O FAIREST mansion of a Father's love, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Harmonious! hospitable! with thine arms | 10 | ˘/˘//˘˘··· |
| Outspread to all, thy fountains ever full, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| And, fair as heaven, thy misty, sky-like dome | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Hung like the firmament with circling sweep | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Above the constellated golden lamps | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That burn forever round the holy tomb. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Most meet art thou to be the Father's house, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The house of prayer for nations. Come the time | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When thou shalt be so! when a liberty, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Wide as thine arms, high as thy lofty dome, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall be proclaimed, by thy loud singing choirs, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Like voice of many waters! Then the Lord | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Shall come into his temple, and make pure | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The sons of Levi; then, as once of old, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The blind shall see, the lame leap as an hart, | 10 | ·········· |
| And to the poor the Gospel shall be preached, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And Easter's silver-sounding trumpets tell, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| "The Lord is risen indeed," to die no more. | 11 | ···/˘˘/···· |
| Hasten it in its time. Amen! Amen! | 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.