Analysis of To F. W. N. A Birthday Offering
John Henry Newman 1801 (London) – 1890 (Edgbaston)
Dear Frank, this morn has usher'd in
The manhood of thy days;
A boy no more, thou must begin
To choose thy future ways;
To brace thy arm, and nerve thy heart,
For maintenance of a noble part.
And thou a voucher fair hast given,
Of what thou wilt achieve,
Ere age has dimm'd thy sun-lit heaven,
In weary life's chill eve;
Should Sovereign Wisdom in its grace
Vouchsafe to thee so long a race.
My brother, we are link'd with chain
That time shall ne'er destroy;
Together we have been in pain,
Together now in joy;
For duly I to share may claim
The present brightness of thy name.
My brother, 'tis no recent tie
Which binds our fates in one,
E'en from our tender infancy
The twisted thread was spun;—
Her deed, who stored in her fond mind
Our forms, by sacred love enshrined.
In her affection all had share,
All six, she loved them all;
Yet on her early-chosen Pair
Did her full favour fall; [Note]
And we became her dearest theme,
Her waking thought, her nightly dream.
Ah! brother, shall we e'er forget
Her love, her care, her zeal?
We cannot pay the countless debt,
But we must ever feel;
For through her earnestness were shed
Prayer-purchased blessings on our head.
Though in the end of days she stood,
And pain and weakness came,
Her force of thought was unsubdued,
Her fire of love the same;
And e'en when memory fail'd its part,
We still kept lodgment in her heart.
And when her Maker from the thrall
Of flesh her spirit freed,
No suffering companied the call,
—In mercy 'twas decreed,—
One moment here, the next she trod
The viewless mansion of her God.
Now then at length she is at rest,
And, after many a woe,
Rejoices in that Saviour blest
Who was her hope below;
Kept till the day when He shall own
His saints before His Father's throne.
So it is left for us to prove
Her prayers were not in vain;
And that God's grace-according love
Has come as gentle rain, {15}
Which, falling in the vernal hour,
Tints the young leaf, perfumes the flower.
Dear Frank, we both are summon'd now
As champions of the Lord;—
Enroll'd am I, and shortly thou
Must buckle on thy sword;
A high employ, nor lightly given,
To serve as messengers of heaven!
Deep in my heart that gift I hide;
I change it not away
For patriot-warrior's hour of pride,
Or statesman's tranquil sway;
For poet's fire, or pleader's skill
To pierce the soul and tame the will.
O! may we follow undismay'd
Where'er our God shall call!
And may His Spirit's present aid
Uphold us lest we fall!
Till in the end of days we stand,
As victors in a deathless land.
Scheme | ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHII XDXDJJ KLKCMM NONOPP XICICC LQLQRR STSTUU XGXGVV WXWXDD YZYZ1 1 CLXL2 2 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111100 01111 01111101 111101 11110111 110010101 010101110 111101 111111110 010111 11010011 1111101 11011111 111101 01011101 010101 11011111 01010111 11011101 1110101 1111010100 010111 01110011 101110101 00010111 111111 11010101 101111 01010101 01010101 110111001 010101 11010101 111101 11010001 110101101 10011111 010101 011111 0101101 0111100111 1111001 01010101 110101 1100101 010101 11010111 0110101 11111111 0101001 10111 110101 11011111 11011101 11111111 010101 01110101 111101 110001010 101101010 11111101 1100101 01110101 110111 010111010 111100110 10111111 111101 110011011 110101 11010111 11010101 111101 1010111 01110101 011111 10011111 1100011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,533 |
Words | 474 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 78 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 149 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:28 min read
- 120 Views
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"To F. W. N. A Birthday Offering" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23319/to-f.-w.-n.-a-birthday-offering>.
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