The Other World
IT lies around us like a cloud,A world we do not see;Yet the sweet closing of an eyeMay bring us there to be.
Its gentle breezes fan our cheek;Amid our worldly cares,Its gentle voices whisper love,And mingle with our prayers.
Sweet hearts around us throb and beat,Sweet helping hands are stirred,And palpitates the veil betweenWith breathings almost heard.
The silence, awful, sweet, and calm,They have no power to break;For mortal words are not for themTo utter or partake.
So thin, so soft, so sweet, they glide,So near to press they seem,They lull us gently to our rest,They melt into our dream.
And in the hush of rest they bring'Tis easy now to seeHow lovely and how sweet a passThe hour of death may be;--
To close the eye, and close the ear,Wrapped in a trance of bliss,And, gently drawn in loving arms,To swoon to that--from this,--
Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep,Scarce asking where we are,To feel all evil sink away,All sorrow and all care.
Sweet souls around us! watch us still;Press nearer to our side;Into our thoughts, into our prayers,With gentle helpings glide.
Let death between us be as naught,A dried and vanished stream;Your joy be the reality,Our suffering life the dream.
Words in this poem
- 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]
- 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.]
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Other World 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, The Other World, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/the-other-world.html, id L22708.
Form and metre
The Other World is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 -AAA cloud · seeA · eyeA · beA
- 2 -A-A cheek · caresA · love · prayersA
- 3 -A-A beat · stirredA · between · heardA
- 4 -A-A calm · breakA · them · partakeA
- 5 -A-A glide · seemA · rest · dreamA
- 6 -A-A bring · seeA · pass · beA
- 7 -A-A ear · blissA · arms · thisA
- 9 -A-A still · sideA · prayers · glideA
- 10 -A-A naught · streamA · reality · dreamA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| IT lies around us like a cloud, | 8 | ········ |
| A world we do not see; | 6 | ······ |
| Yet the sweet closing of an eye | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| May bring us there to be. | 6 | ······ |
| Its gentle breezes fan our cheek; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/· |
| Amid our worldly cares, | 7 | ˘//˘/˘· |
| Its gentle voices whisper love, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And mingle with our prayers. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, | 8 | ········ |
| Sweet helping hands are stirred, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And palpitates the veil between | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| With breathings almost heard. | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| The silence, awful, sweet, and calm, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| They have no power to break; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| For mortal words are not for them | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To utter or partake. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| So thin, so soft, so sweet, they glide, | 8 | ········ |
| So near to press they seem, | 6 | ······ |
| They lull us gently to our rest, | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| They melt into our dream. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And in the hush of rest they bring | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tis easy now to see | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| How lovely and how sweet a pass | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The hour of death may be;-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| To close the eye, and close the ear, | 8 | ········ |
| Wrapped in a trance of bliss, | 6 | ······ |
| And, gently drawn in loving arms, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To swoon to that--from this,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Scarce asking where we are, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To feel all evil sink away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| All sorrow and all care. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Sweet souls around us! watch us still; | 8 | ········ |
| Press nearer to our side; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Into our thoughts, into our prayers, | 8 | ··/···/· |
| With gentle helpings glide. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Let death between us be as naught, | 8 | ········ |
| A dried and vanished stream; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Your joy be the reality, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Our suffering life the dream. | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
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