Analysis of The Rainbow

Felicia Dorothea Hemans 1793 (Liverpool, Lancashire) – 1835 (Dublin, County Dublin)



I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis ix. 13.

SOFT falls the mild, reviving shower
From April's changeful skies,
And rain-drops bend each trembling flower
They tinge with richer dyes.

Soon shall their genial influence call
A thousand buds to day,
Which, waiting but their balmy fall,
In hidden beauty lay.

E'en now full many a blossom's bell
With fragrance fills the shade;
And verdure clothes each grassy dell,
In brighter tints arrayed.

But mark! what arch of varied hue
From heaven to earth is bowed?
Haste, ere it vanish, haste to view
The Rainbow in the cloud.

How bright its glory! there behold
The emerald's verdant rays,
The topaz blends its hue of gold
With the deep ruby's blaze.

Yet not alone to charm thy sight
Was given the vision fair;?
Gaze on that arch of colored light,
And read God's mercy there.

It tells us that the mighty deep,
Fast by th' Eternal chained,
No more o'er earth's domains shall sweep,
Awful and unrestrained.

It tells that seasons, heat and cold,
Fixed by his sovereign will,
Shall, in their course, bid man behold
Seed-time and harvest still;

That still the flower shall deck the field,
When vernal zephyrs blow;
That still the vine its fruit will yield,
When autumn sun-beams glow.

Then, child of that fair earth! which yet
Smiles with each charm endowed,
Bless thou His name, whose mercy set
The Rainbow in the cloud!


Scheme x a baba cdcd efef ghgH iaia jkjk lmlm inin opop qhqH
Poetic Form
Metre 111110010111101010100011001 1001 110101010 11011 0111110010 111101 111101001 010111 11011101 010101 111110011 110101 0111101 010101 11111101 1101111 11110111 01001 11110101 01101 0111111 101101 11011111 1100101 11111101 011101 11110101 11110101 111010111 10001 11110101 111101 10111101 110101 110101101 110101 11011111 110111 11111111 111101 11111101 01001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,412
Words 257
Sentences 18
Stanzas 12
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 42
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:19 min read
86

Felicia Dorothea Hemans

Felicia Dorothea Hemans was an English poet. Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic status. more…

All Felicia Dorothea Hemans poems | Felicia Dorothea Hemans Books

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