St. Catherine Borne by Angels
SLOW through the solemn air, in silence sailing,Borne by mysterious angels, strong and fair,She sleeps at last, blest dreams her eyelids veiling,Above this weary world of strife and care.
Lo how she passeth!--dreamy, slow, and calm:Scarce wave those broad, white wings, so silvery bright;Those cloudy robes, in star-emblazoned folding,Sweep mistily athwart the evening light.
Far, far below, the dim, forsaken earth,The foes that threaten, or the friends that weep;Past, like a dream, the torture and the pain:For so He giveth his beloved sleep.
The restless bosom of the surging oceanGives back the image as the cloud floats o'er,Hushing in glassy awe his troubled motion;For one blest moment he complains no more.
Like the transparent golden floor of heaven,His charmed waters lie as in a dream,And glistening wings, and starry robes unfolding,And serious angel eyes far downward gleam.
O restless sea! thou seemest all enchantedBy that sweet vision of celestial rest;Where are the winds and tides thy peace that haunted,--So still thou seemest, so glorified and blest!
Ah, sea! to-morrow, that sweet scene forgotten,Dark tides and tempests shall thy bosom rear;And thy complaining waves, with restless motion,Shall toss their hands in their old wild despair.
So o'er our hearts sometimes the sweet, sad storyOf suffering saints, borne homeward crowned and blest,Shines down in stillness with a tender glory,And makes a mirror there of breathless rest.
For not alone in those old Eastern regionsAre Christ's beloved ones tried by cross and chain;In many a house are his elect ones hidden,His martyrs suffering in their patient pain.
The rack, the cross, life's weary wrench of woe,The world sees not, as slow, from day to day,In calm, unspoken patience, sadly still,The loving spirit bleeds itself away.
But there are hours when, from the heavens unfolding,Come down the angels with the glad release;And we look upward, to behold in gloryOur suffering loved ones borne away to peace.
Ah, brief the calm! the restless wave of feelingRises again when the bright cloud sweeps by,And our unrestful souls reflect no longerThat tender vision of the upper sky.
Espoused Lord of the pure saints in glory,To whom all faithful souls affianced are,Breathe down thy peace into our restless spirits,And make a lasting, heavenly vision there.
So the bright gates no more on us shall close;No more the cloud of angels fade away;And we shall walk, amid life's weary strife,In the calm light of thine eternal day.
Words in this poem 16
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- mistily adv.
- With mist; darkly; obscurely.
- hushing n.
- The process of washing ore, or of uncovering mineral veins, by a heavy discharge of water from a reservoir; flushing; -- also called booming.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- 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,]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- wrench n.
- Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
St. Catherine Borne by Angels 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, St. Catherine Borne by Angels, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/st-catherine-borne-by-angels.html, id L22705.
Form and metre
St. Catherine Borne by Angels is 56 lines in 14 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 sailingA · fairB · veilingA · careB
- 2 -A-A calm · brightA · folding · lightA
- 3 -A-A earth · weepA · pain · sleepA
- 4 A-A- oceanA · o'er · motionA · more
- 5 -A-A heaven · dreamA · unfolding · gleamA
- 6 -A-A enchanted · restA · haunted · blestA
- 7 -A-A forgotten · rearA · motion · despairA
- 8 ABAB storyA · blestB · gloryA · restB
- 9 -AAA regions · chainA · hiddenA · painA
- 10 -A-A woe · dayA · still · awayA
- 11 -A-A unfolding · releaseA · glory · peaceA
- 12 -A-A feeling · byA · longer · skyA
- 14 -A-A close · awayA · strife · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SLOW through the solemn air, in silence sailing, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Borne by mysterious angels, strong and fair, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| She sleeps at last, blest dreams her eyelids veiling, | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| Above this weary world of strife and care. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Lo how she passeth!--dreamy, slow, and calm: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Scarce wave those broad, white wings, so silvery bright; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Those cloudy robes, in star-emblazoned folding, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Sweep mistily athwart the evening light. | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘· |
| Far, far below, the dim, forsaken earth, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The foes that threaten, or the friends that weep; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Past, like a dream, the torture and the pain: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For so He giveth his beloved sleep. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The restless bosom of the surging ocean | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Gives back the image as the cloud floats o'er, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Hushing in glassy awe his troubled motion; | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| For one blest moment he complains no more. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Like the transparent golden floor of heaven, | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| His charmed waters lie as in a dream, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And glistening wings, and starry robes unfolding, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And serious angel eyes far downward gleam. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| O restless sea! thou seemest all enchanted | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| By that sweet vision of celestial rest; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Where are the winds and tides thy peace that haunted,-- | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| So still thou seemest, so glorified and blest! | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| Ah, sea! to-morrow, that sweet scene forgotten, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Dark tides and tempests shall thy bosom rear; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And thy complaining waves, with restless motion, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Shall toss their hands in their old wild despair. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| So o'er our hearts sometimes the sweet, sad story | 11 | ··/·˘/···/˘ |
| Of suffering saints, borne homeward crowned and blest, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Shines down in stillness with a tender glory, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And makes a mirror there of breathless rest. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For not alone in those old Eastern regions | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Are Christ's beloved ones tried by cross and chain; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| In many a house are his elect ones hidden, | 11 | ·/····˘/·/˘ |
| His martyrs suffering in their patient pain. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The rack, the cross, life's weary wrench of woe, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The world sees not, as slow, from day to day, | 10 | ·········· |
| In calm, unspoken patience, sadly still, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| The loving spirit bleeds itself away. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| But there are hours when, from the heavens unfolding, | 12 | ···/···/˘˘/˘ |
| Come down the angels with the glad release; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And we look upward, to behold in glory | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Our suffering loved ones borne away to peace. | 10 | //˘···˘/·· |
| Ah, brief the calm! the restless wave of feeling | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Rises again when the bright cloud sweeps by, | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| And our unrestful souls reflect no longer | 11 | ·/····˘/·/˘ |
| That tender vision of the upper sky. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Espoused Lord of the pure saints in glory, | 10 | ˘/······/˘ |
| To whom all faithful souls affianced are, | 10 | ···/˘···˘· |
| Breathe down thy peace into our restless spirits, | 11 | ······//˘/˘ |
| And make a lasting, heavenly vision there. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| So the bright gates no more on us shall close; | 10 | ·········· |
| No more the cloud of angels fade away; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And we shall walk, amid life's weary strife, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| In the calm light of thine eternal day. | 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.