We’ve been talking about women a bit this week, so I submit this Longfellow poem to cap things off. Here’s a portion:
MAIDEN! with the meek, brown eyes,
In whose orbs a shadow lies
Like the dusk in evening skies!
Thou whose locks outshine the sun,
Golden tresses, wreathed in one,
As the braided streamlets run!
…
Bear a lily in thy hand;
Gates of brass cannot withstand
One touch of that magic wand.
from “Maidenhood”
Oof. “Hand” and “withstand” rhymed with “wand?” That’s reaching.
mm, hmm. I wondered if anyone would chafe at the rhyming. I wonder what is the history of these words’ pronunciations.
It’s possible. Most people mispronounce a famous line from “The Children’s Hour:” “When night is beginning to lower.” It’s not “lower” as in “lower your expectations.” It’s an entirely different word, spelled the same: “lower” that rhymes with “flower.” And thus rhymes with “hour.” It means “to be or become dark, gloomy, and threatening (“an overcast sky lowered over the village”).