Analysis of Affliction (III)
George Herbert 1593 (Montgomery) – 1633 (Bemerton)
My heart did heave, and there came forth, 'O God'!
By that I knew that thou wast in the grief,
To guide and govern it to my relief,
Making a sceptre of the rod:
Hadst thou not had thy part,
Sure the unruly sigh had broke my heart.
But since thy breath gave me both life and shape,
Thou know'st my tallies; and when there's assigned
So much breath to a sigh, what's then behind?
Or if some years with it escape,
The sigh then only is
A gale to bring me sooner to my bliss.
Thy life on earth was grief, and thou art still
Constant unto it, making it to be
A point of honour now to grieve in me,
And in thy members suffer ill.
They who lament one cross,
Thou dying daily, praise thee to thy loss.
Scheme | ABBACC DEEDXX FGGFHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 1111111001 1101011101 10010101 111111 1001011111 1111111101 11111001101 1111011101 11111101 011101 0111110111 1111110111 1010110111 011111101 00110101 110111 1101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 695 |
Words | 143 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 176 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 89 Views
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"Affliction (III)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15333/affliction-%28iii%29>.
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