Analysis of Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire
James Montgomery 1771 (Irvine) – 1854
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters heaven with prayer.
O Thou, by Whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way;
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray!
Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice
And cry, “Behold, he prays!”
The saints in prayer appear as one
In word, in deed, and mind,
While with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.
No prayer is made by man alone
The Holy Spirit pleads,
And Jesus, on th’eternal throne,
For sinners intercedes.
O Thou by Whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray.
Scheme | abab cdCE xcCE fdfd GHGH ijij klkl mxmi GHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (78%) |
Metre | 110101010 1101 010101010 11001 11010101 010101 01010111 111111 11010111 110111 01010111 111111 11010101 010101 1110111 1101011 11111111 010101 0111111 111111 11001101 010111 11001101 010111 01010111 010101 11010001 11011 11111101 010101 010111 1101 11111111 010101 0111111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,094 |
Words | 211 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 95 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 145 Views
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"Prayer Is the Soul's Sincere Desire" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20462/prayer-is-the-soul%27s-sincere-desire>.
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