Analysis of Mount Of Olives (I)

Henry Vaughan 1621 (Brecknockshire) – 1695



1.
SWEET, sacred hill ! on whose fair brow
My Saviour sate, shall I allow
Language to love,
And idolize some shade, or grove,
Neglecting thee ? such ill-plac'd wit,
Conceit, or call it what you please,
Is the brain's fit,
And mere disease.
2.
Cotswold and Cooper's both have met
With learn褠swains, and echo yet
Their pipes and wit ;
But thou sleep'st in a deep neglect,
Untouch'd by any ; and what need
The sheep bleat thee a silly lay,
That heard'st both reed
And sheepward play ?

3.
Yet if poets mind thee well,
They shall find thou art their hill,
And fountain too.
Their Lord with thee had most to do ;
He wept once, walk'd whole nights on thee :
And from thence?His suff'rings ended?
Unto glory
Was attended.

4.
Being there, this spacious ball
Is but His narrow footstool all ;
And what we think
Unsearchable, now with one wink
He doth comprise ; but in this air
When He did stay to bear our ill
And sin, this hill
Was then His Chair.


Scheme ABBXXCDCDAEECXFGFG AXHIIJKJK ALLMMNHHN
Poetic Form
Metre 1 11011111 1111101 1011 0101111 01011111 01111111 1011 0101 1 1010111 1110101 1101 111100101 01110011 01110101 11111 011 1 1110111 1111111 0101 11111111 11111111 011110 1010 1010 1 1011101 1111011 0111 11111 11011011 111111101 0111 1111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 950
Words 175
Sentences 14
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 18, 9, 9
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 239
Words per stanza (avg) 60
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
101

Henry Vaughan

Henry Vaughan was a Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet. Vaughan and his twin brother, the hermetic philosopher and alchemist Thomas Vaughan, were the sons of Thomas Vaughan and his wife Denise of 'Trenewydd', Newton, in Brecknockshire, Wales. Their grandfather, William, was the owner of Tretower Court. Vaughan spent most of his life in the village of Llansantffraed, near Brecon, where he is also buried. more…

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