Hymns and Tunes 1886 17
Gracious Father, lend thine ear
1Gracious Father, lend thine ear,
Deign our humble songs to hear;
Purer praise we hope to bring,
When around thy throne we sing.
2While on earth ordained to stay,
Guide our footsteps in thy way,
Till we come to dwell with thee,
Till we all thy glory see.
3Then, with angel-harps again,
We will wake a nobler strain;
There, in joyful songs of praise,
Our triumphant voices raise.
Public Domain
The verse
- Meter
- 7.8.7.7
- Foot
- trochaic (DUM-da) · 64% of beats fit
- Rhyme
- AABB
Scan every line
/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary
Verse 1
Gracious Father, lend thine ear,/˘/˘///7A
Deign our humble songs to hear;//˘/˘/˘/8A
Purer praise we hope to bring,/˘/˘/˘/7B
When around thy throne we sing./˘///˘/7B
Verse 2
While on earth ordained to stay,/˘/˘/˘/7A
Guide our footsteps in thy way,//˘//˘//8A
Till we come to dwell with thee,/˘/˘/˘/7B
Till we all thy glory see./˘///˘/7B
Verse 3
Then, with angel-harps again,/˘???˘/7A
We will wake a nobler strain;˘˘/˘/˘/7B
There, in joyful songs of praise,/˘/˘/˘/7C
Our triumphant voices raise./˘˘/˘/˘/8C
Counted by machine from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. It cannot hear emphasis or a poet’s licence, so treat it as a place to start reading, not the last word.