Analysis of Whitsunday
George Herbert 1593 (Montgomery) – 1633 (Bemerton)
Listen sweet Dove unto my song,
And spread thy golden wings in me;
Hatching my tender heart so long,
Till it get wing, and fly away with thee.
Where is that fire which once descended
On thy Apostles? thou didst then
Keep open house, richly attended,
Feasting all comers by twelve chosen men.
Such glorious gifts thou didst bestow,
That th'earth did like a heav'n appear;
The stars were coming down to know
If they might mend their wages, and serve here.
The sun which once did shine alone,
Hung down his head, and wisht for night,
When he beheld twelve suns for one
Going about the world, and giving light.
But since those pipes of gold, which brought
That cordial water to our ground,
Were cut and martyr'd by the fault
Of those, who did themselves through their side wound,
Thou shutt'st the door, and keep'st within;
Scarce a good joy creeps through the chink:
And if the braves of conqu'ring sin
Did not excite thee, we should wholly sink.
Lord, though we change, thou art the same;
The same sweet God of love and light:
Restore this day, for thy great name,
Unto his ancient and miraculous right.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EXEX XFXF XGXG HIHI JFJF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 10111011 01110101 10110111 1111010111 1111011010 11010111 110110010 1011011101 110011101 1111110101 01010111 1111110011 01111101 11110111 1111111 1001010101 11111111 110101101 01010101 1111011111 1110101101 10111101 0101111 1101111101 11111101 01111101 01111111 10110001001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,098 |
Words | 202 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 123 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 189 Views
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"Whitsunday" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15411/whitsunday>.
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