Analysis of The Christian’s New Year Prayer
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Thou Christ of mine, Thy gracious ear low bending
Through these glad New Year days,
To catch the countless prayers to heaven ascending –
For e’en hard hearts do raise
Some secret wish for fame, or gold, or power,
Or freedom from all care –
Dear, patient Christ, who listeneth hour on hour,
Hear now a Christian’s prayer.
Let this young year, silent, walks beside me,
Be as a means of grace
To lead me up, no matter what betide me,
Nearer the Master’s face.
If it need be ere I reach the Fountain
Where living waters play,
My feet should bleed from sharp stones on the mountain,
Then cast them in my way.
If my vain soul needs blows and bitter losses
To shape it for Thy crown,
Then bruise it, burn it, burden it with crosses,
With sorrows bear it down.
Do what Thou wilt to mould me to Thy pleasure,
And if I should complain,
Heap full of anguish yet another measure
Until I smile at pain.
Send dangers – deaths! but tell me how to dare them;
Enfold me in Thy care.
Send trials, tears! but give me strength to bear them –
This is a Christian’s prayer.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH XIXICJCJKDKD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101110 111111 110101110010 111111 11011111110 110111 11011110110 110101 1111101011 110111 11111101011 100101 1111111010 110101 11111111010 111011 11111101010 111111 11111101110 110111 11111111110 011101 11110101010 011111 11011111111 011011 11011111111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,074 |
Words | 204 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 12 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 270 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 87 Views
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"The Christian’s New Year Prayer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10826/the-christian%E2%80%99s-new-year-prayer>.
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