Analysis of Prayer At Sunrise
James Weldon Johnson 1871 (Jacksonville) – 1938 (Wiscasset)
O mighty, powerful, dark-dispelling sun,
Now thou art risen, and thy day begun.
How shrink the shrouding mists before thy face,
As up thou spring'st to thy diurnal race!
How darkness chases darkness to the west,
As shades of light on light rise radiant from thy crest!
For thee, great source of strength, emblem of might,
In hours of darkest gloom there is no night.
Thou shinest on though clouds hide thee from sight,
And through each break thou sendest down thy light.
O greater Maker of this Thy great sun,
Give me the strength this one day's race to run,
Fill me with light, fill me with sun-like strength,
Fill me with joy to rob the day its length.
Light from within, light that will outward shine,
Strength to make strong some weaker heart than mine,
Joy to make glad each soul that feels its touch;
Great Father of the sun, I ask this much.
Scheme | AABBCCDDDD AAEEFFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010010101 1111001101 1101010111 11111110101 1101010101 1111111100111 1111111011 01011011111 111111111 011111111 1101011111 1101111111 1111111111 1111110111 1101111101 1111110111 1111111111 1101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 839 |
Words | 158 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 8 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 332 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 78 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 166 Views
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"Prayer At Sunrise" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20726/prayer-at-sunrise>.
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