Let Me Lean Hard
Let me lean hard upon the Eternal Breast:In all earth's devious ways I sought for restAnd found it not. I will be strong, said I,And lean upon myself. I will not cryAnd importune all heaven with my complaint.But now my strength fails, and I fall, I faint:Let me lean hard.
Let me lean hard upon the unfailing Arm.I said I will walk on, I fear no harm,The spark divine within my soul will showThe upward pathway where my feet should go.But now the heights to which I most aspireAre lost in clouds. I stumble and I tire:Let me lean hard.
Let me lean harder yet. That swerveless forceWhich speeds the solar systems on their courseCan take, unfelt, the burden of my woe,Which bears me to the dust and hurts me so.I thought my strength enough for any fate,But lo! I sink beneath my sorrow's weight:Let me lean hard.
Words in this poem
- devious a.
- Out of a straight line; winding; varying from directness; as, a devious path or way. [L. devius; de + via way. See Viaduct.]
- importune a.
- Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Let Me Lean Hard is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Let Me Lean Hard, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/let-me-lean-hard.html, id L22212.
Form and metre
Let Me Lean Hard is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 76% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABBCC- breastA · restA · iB · cryB · complaintC · faintC · hard
- 2 AABB--- armA · harmA · showB · goB · aspire · tire · hard
- 3 AABBCC- forceA · courseA · woeB · soB · fateC · weightC · hard
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let me lean hard upon the Eternal Breast: | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| In all earth's devious ways I sought for rest | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And found it not. I will be strong, said I, | 10 | ·········· |
| And lean upon myself. I will not cry | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And importune all heaven with my complaint. | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| But now my strength fails, and I fall, I faint: | 10 | ·········· |
| Let me lean hard. | 4 | ···· |
| Let me lean hard upon the unfailing Arm. | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| I said I will walk on, I fear no harm, | 10 | ·········· |
| The spark divine within my soul will show | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The upward pathway where my feet should go. | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| But now the heights to which I most aspire | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Are lost in clouds. I stumble and I tire: | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Let me lean hard. | 4 | ···· |
| Let me lean harder yet. That swerveless force | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Which speeds the solar systems on their course | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Can take, unfelt, the burden of my woe, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Which bears me to the dust and hurts me so. | 10 | ·········· |
| I thought my strength enough for any fate, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| But lo! I sink beneath my sorrow's weight: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let me lean hard. | 4 | ···· |
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.