Analysis of The Band of Gideon

Joseph Seamon Cotter 1861 (Louisville) – 1949



The band of Gideon roam the sky,
The howling wind is their war-cry,
The thunder roll is their trump's peal,
And the lightning flash their vengeful steel.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strond deed,
"The sword of the lord and Gideon."

And men below rear temples high
And mock their God with reasons why,
And live in arrogance, sin and shame,
And rape their souls for the world's good name.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strond deed,
"The sword of the lord and Gideon."

The band of Gideon roam the sky
And view the earth with baleful eye,
In holy wrath they scourge the land
With earth-quake, storm and burning brand.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strond deed,
"The sword of the lord and Gideon."

The lightnings flash and the thunders roll,
And "Lord have mercy on my soul,"
Cry men as they fall on the stricken sod,
In agony searching for their God.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strond deed,
"The sword of the lord and Gideon."

And men repent and then forget
That heavenly wrath they ever met,
The band of Gideon yet will come
And strike their tongues of blasphemy dumb.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strond deed,
"The sword of the lord and Gideon."


Scheme AabbCDCDE aaffCDCDE AaggCDCDE hhiiCDCDE jjkkCDCDE
Poetic Form Tetractys  (29%)
Metre 011100101 01011111 01011111 001011101 111 101001 01101 1111 011010100 01011101 01111101 010100101 011110111 111 101001 01101 1111 011010100 011100101 01011101 01011101 11110101 111 101001 01101 1111 011010100 010100101 01110111 1111110101 010010111 111 101001 01101 1111 011010100 01010101 110011101 011100111 011111001 111 101001 01101 1111 011010100
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,322
Words 256
Sentences 16
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 45
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 205
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:15 min read
104

Joseph Seamon Cotter

Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. was an American playwright, author and poet from Louisville, Kentucky most remembered for his posthumously published one-act play On The Fields of France in addition to numerous volumes of poetry. more…

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