An Hymn to the Morning
ATTEND my lays, ye ever honour'd nine,Assist my labours, and my strains refine;In smoothest numbers pour the notes along,For bright Aurora now demands my song.Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays;Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume,Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.Ye shady groves, your verdant gloom displayTo shield your poet from the burning day:Calliope awake the sacred lyre,While thy fair sisters fan the pleasing fire:The bow'rs, the gales, the variegated skiesIn all their pleasures in my bosom rise.See in the east th' illustrious king of day!His rising radiance drives the shades away--But Oh! I feel his fervid beams too strong,And scarce begun, concludes th' abortive song.
Words in this poem
- aurora n.
- The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ushas, and E. east.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- resume n.
- A summing up; a condensed statement; an abridgment or brief recapitulation. [F. See Resume.]
- calliope n.
- The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses.
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- 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
An Hymn to the Morning is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems on various subjects, religious and moral, Project Gutenberg ebook #409; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phillis Wheatley, An Hymn to the Morning, in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #409, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wheatley-poems/an-hymn-to-the-morning.html, id L07710.
Form and metre
An Hymn to the Morning is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGCCFFBB nineA · refineA · alongB · songB · diesC · skiesC · raysD · playsD · resumeE · plumeE · displayF · dayF · lyreG · fireG · skiesC · riseC · dayF · awayF · strongB · songB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ATTEND my lays, ye ever honour'd nine, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Assist my labours, and my strains refine; | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| In smoothest numbers pour the notes along, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| For bright Aurora now demands my song. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies: | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Ye shady groves, your verdant gloom display | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| To shield your poet from the burning day: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Calliope awake the sacred lyre, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| While thy fair sisters fan the pleasing fire: | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The bow'rs, the gales, the variegated skies | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| In all their pleasures in my bosom rise. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| See in the east th' illustrious king of day! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| His rising radiance drives the shades away-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| But Oh! I feel his fervid beams too strong, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And scarce begun, concludes th' abortive song. | 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.