Analysis of Upon The Disobedient Child
John Bunyan 1628 (Elstow, Bedfordshire) – 1688 (London)
Children become, while little, our delights!
When they grow bigger, they begin to fright's.
Their sinful nature prompts them to rebel,
And to delight in paths that lead to hell.
Their parents' love and care they overlook,
As if relation had them quite forsook.
They take the counsels of the wanton's, rather
Than the most grave instructions of a father.
They reckon parents ought to do for them,
Though they the fifth commandment do contemn;
They snap and snarl if parents them control,
Though but in things most hurtful to the soul.
They reckon they are masters, and that we
Who parents are, should to them subject be!
If parents fain would have a hand in choosing,
The children have a heart will in refusing.
They'll by wrong doings, under parents gather,
And say it is no sin to rob a father.
They'll jostle parents out of place and power,
They'll make themselves the head, and them devour.
How many children, by becoming head,
Have brought their parents to a piece of bread!
Thus they who, at the first, were parents joy,
Turn that to bitterness, themselves destroy.
But, wretched child, how canst thou thus requite
Thy aged parents, for that great delight
They took in thee, when thou, as helpless, lay
In their indulgent bosoms day by day?
Thy mother, long before she brought thee forth,
Took care thou shouldst want neither food nor cloth.
Thy father glad was at his very heart,
Had he to thee a portion to impart.
Comfort they promised themselves in thee,
But thou, it seems, to them a grief wilt be.
How oft, how willingly brake they their sleep,
If thou, their bantling, didst but winch or weep.
Their love to thee was such they could have giv'n,
That thou mightst live, almost their part of heav'n.
But now, behold how they rewarded are!
For their indulgent love and tender care;
All is forgot, this love he doth despise.
They brought this bird up to pick out their eyes.
Scheme | AABCDDEEFGHHIIJJEEEEKKLLKMNNOPQQIIRRGGSTUU |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10011101001 1111010111 1101011110 0101011111 110101110 1101011101 1101010110 10110101010 1101011111 110101011 1101110101 1101110101 1101110011 1101111011 11011101010 01010110010 11110101010 01111111010 11010111010 11010101010 1101010101 1111010111 1111010101 1111000101 110111111 111011101 1101111101 010101111 1101011111 1111110111 1101111101 1111010101 101100101 1111110111 1111001111 111111111 1111111111 111111111 1101110101 1101010101 1101111101 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,849 |
Words | 338 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 42 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,475 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 336 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 96 Views
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"Upon The Disobedient Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22168/upon-the-disobedient-child>.
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