Analysis of Fifth Sunday After Trinity
John Keble 1792 (Fairford) – 1866 (Bournemouth)
"The livelong night we've toiled in vain,
But at Thy gracious word
I will let down the net again:-
Do Thou Thy will, O Lord!"
So spake the weary fisher, spent
With bootless darkling toil,
Yet on his Master's bidding bent
For love and not for spoil.
So day by day and week by week,
In sad and weary thought,
They muse, whom God hath set to seek
The souls His Christ hath bought.
For not upon a tranquil lake
Our pleasant task we ply,
Where all along our glistening wake
The softest moonbeams lie;
Where rippling wave and dashing oar
Our midnight chant attend,
Or whispering palm-leaves from the shore
With midnight silence blend.
Sweet thoughts of peace, ye may not last:
Too soon some ruder sound
Calls us from where ye soar so fast
Back to our earthly round.
For wildest storms our ocean sweep:-
No anchor but the Cross
Might hold: and oft the thankless deep
Turns all our toil to loss.
Full many a dreary anxious hour
We watch our nets alone
In drenching spray, and driving shower,
And hear the night-bird's moan:
At morn we look, and nought is there;
Sad dawn of cheerless day!
Who then from pining and despair
The sickening heart can stay?
There is a stay--and we are strong;
Our Master is at hand,
To cheer our solitary song,
And guide us to the strand.
In His own time; but yet a while
Our bark at sea must ride;
Cast after cast, by force or guile
All waters must be tried:
By blameless guile or gentle force,
As when He deigned to teach
(The lode-star of our Christian course)
Upon this sacred beach.
Should e'er thy wonder-working grace
Triumph by our weak arm,
Let not our sinful fancy trace
Aught human in the charm:
To our own nets ne'er bow we down,
Lest on the eternal shore
The angels, while oar draught they own,
Reject us evermore:
Or, if for our unworthiness
Toil, prayer, and watching fail,
In disappointment Thou canst bless,
So love at heart prevail.
Scheme | XXXX ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM NONO PQPQ RSRS TUTU VWVW XFMF KXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (87%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 0111101 111101 11110101 111111 11010101 1111 11110101 110111 11110111 010101 11111111 011111 11010101 1010111 1101101001 01011 110010101 101101 110011101 11101 11111111 111101 11111111 1110101 110110101 110101 11010101 1110111 1100101010 1110101 010101010 010111 11110111 11111 11110001 0100111 11010111 1010111 11101001 011101 01111101 1011111 11011111 110111 11011101 111111 011110101 011101 110110101 1011011 111010101 110001 110111111 1100101 01011111 01110 111101 110101 0010111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,880 |
Words | 351 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 74 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Fifth Sunday After Trinity" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23567/fifth-sunday-after-trinity>.
Discuss this John Keble poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In