Analysis of Eight Sunday After Trinity
John Keble 1792 (Fairford) – 1866 (Bournemouth)
Prophet of God, arise and take
With thee the words of wrath divine,
The scourge of Heaven, to shake
O'er yon apostate shrine.
Where Angels down the lucid stair
Came hovering to our sainted sires
Now, in the twilight, glare
The heathen's wizard fires.
Go, with thy voice the altar rend,
Scatter the ashes, be the arm,
That idols would befriend,
Shrunk at thy withering charm.
Then turn thee, for thy time is short,
But trace not o'er the former way,
Lest idol pleasures court
Thy heedless soul astray.
Thou know'st how hard to hurry by,
Where on the lonely woodland road
Beneath the moonlight sky
The festal warblings flowed;
Where maidens to the Queen of Heaven
Wove the gay dance round oak or palm,
Or breathed their vows at even
In hymns as soft as balm.
Or thee, perchance, a darker spell
Enthralls: the smooth stones of the flood,
By mountain grot or fell,
Pollute with infant's blood;
The giant altar on the rock,
The cavern whence the timbrel's call
Affrights the wandering flock:-
Thou long'st to search them all.
Trust not the dangerous path again -
O forward step and lingering will!
O loved and warned in vain!
And wilt thou perish still?
Thy message given, thine home in sight,
To the forbidden feast return?
Yield to the false delight
Thy better soul could spurn?
Alas, my brother! round thy tomb
In sorrow kneeling, and in fear,
We read the Pastor's doom
Who speaks and will not hear.
The grey-haired saint may fail at last,
The surest guide a wanderer prove;
Death only binds us fast
To the bright shore of love.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE DFDF GDGD XHXH IDID JKJK XLXL DMDM NXNX DXDX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 10110101 11011101 0111011 1010101 11010101 1100110101 10011 011010 11110101 10010101 110101 1111001 11111111 111100101 110101 11101 111111101 1101011 01011 0111 110101110 10111111 1111110 011111 11010101 1011101 110111 011101 01010101 0101011 101001 1111111 110100101 110101001 110101 011101 110101101 10100101 110101 110111 01110111 01010001 110101 110111 01111111 010101001 110111 101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,536 |
Words | 277 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 26 Views
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