Analysis of Meditations Upon A Candle
John Bunyan 1628 (Elstow, Bedfordshire) – 1688 (London)
Man's like a candle in a candlestick,
Made up of tallow and a little wick;
And as the candle when it is not lighted,
So is he who is in his sins benighted.
Nor can a man his soul with grace inspire,
More than can candles set themselves on fire.
Candles receive their light from what they are not;
Men grace from Him for whom at first they care not.
We manage candles when they take the fire;
God men, when he with grace doth them inspire.
And biggest candles give the better light,
As grace on biggest sinners shines most bright.
The candle shines to make another see,
A saint unto his neighbour light should be.
The blinking candle we do much despise,
Saints dim of light are high in no man's eyes.
Again, though it may seem to some a riddle,
We use to light our candles at the middle.
True light doth at the candle's end appear,
And grace the heart first reaches by the ear.
But 'tis the wick the fire doth kindle on,
As 'tis the heart that grace first works upon.
Thus both do fasten upon what's the main,
And so their life and vigour do maintain.
The tallow makes the wick yield to the fire,
And sinful flesh doth make the soul desire
That grace may kindle on it, in it burn;
So evil makes the soul from evil turn.
But candles in the wind are apt to flare,
And Christians, in a tempest, to despair.
The flame also with smoke attended is,
And in our holy lives there's much amiss.
Sometimes a thief will candle-light annoy,
And lusts do seek our graces to destroy.
What brackish is will make a candle sputter;
'Twixt sin and grace there's oft' a heavy clutter.
Sometimes the light burns dim, 'cause of the snuff,
Sometimes it is blown quite out with a puff;
But watchfulness preventeth both these evils,
Keeps candles light, and grace in spite of devils.
Nor let not snuffs nor puffs make us to doubt,
Our candles may be lighted, though puffed out.
The candle in the night doth all excel,
Nor sun, nor moon, nor stars, then shine so well.
So is the Christian in our hemisphere,
Whose light shows others how their course to steer.
When candles are put out, all's in confusion;
Where Christians are not, devils make intrusion.
Then happy are they who such candles have,
All others dwell in darkness and the grave.
But candles that do blink within the socket,
And saints, whose eyes are always in their pocket,
Are much alike; such candles make us fumble,
And at such saints good men and bad do stumble.
Good candles don't offend, except sore eyes,
Nor hurt, unless it be the silly flies.
Thus none like burning candles in the night,
Nor ought to holy living for delight.
But let us draw towards the candle's end:
The fire, you see, doth wick and tallow spend,
As grace man's life until his glass is run,
And so the candle and the man is done.
The man now lays him down upon his bed,
The wick yields up its fire, and so is dead.
The candle now extinct is, but the man
By grace mounts up to glory, there to stand.
Scheme | AABCDEFFEDGGHHIIJJKLMMNNEEOOPPQRSSEETTUUVVWWKKXXYZ1 1 JJIIGG2 2 XX3 3 4 5 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110100010 1111000101 01010111110 11111011010 1101111101 11110101110 10011111111 11111111111 11010111010 1111111101 0101010101 1111010111 0101110101 011011111 0101011101 1111110111 01111111010 111110101010 111101101 0101110101 11010101101 1101111101 1111001101 011101101 01010111010 01011101010 1111011011 1101011101 1100011111 0100010101 0110110101 00101011101 0101110101 01111010101 11011101010 11011101010 0101111101 0111111101 1111110 11010101110 1111111111 10101110111 0100011101 1111111111 1101001010 1111011111 11011110010 11011101010 1101111101 1101010001 11011101010 0111110110 11011101110 01111101110 1101010111 1101110101 1111010001 1111010101 111101011 01011110101 1111011111 0101000111 0111110111 01111100111 0101011101 1111110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,855 |
Words | 553 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 66 |
Lines Amount | 66 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,260 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 551 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 25, 2023
- 2:49 min read
- 72 Views
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"Meditations Upon A Candle" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22123/meditations-upon-a-candle>.
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