Analysis of Oh That I Were As In Months Past!

John Newton 1725 (Wapping, London) – 1807 (London)



Sweet was the time when first I felt
The Saviour's pard'ning blood
Applied, to cleanse my soul from guilt,
And bring me home to God.

Soon as the morn the light revealed,
His praises tuned my tongue;
And when the evening shades prevailed,
His love was all my song.

In vain the tempter spread his wiles,
The world no more could charm;
I lived upon my Saviour's smiles,
And leaned upon his arm.

In prayer my soul drew near the Lord,
And saw his glory shine;
And when I read his holy word,
I called each promise mine.

Then to his saints I often spoke;
Of what his love had done;
But now my heart is almost broke,
For all my joys are gone.

Now when the evening shade prevails,
My soul in darkness mourns,
And when the morn the light reveals,
No light to me returns.

My prayers are now a chatt'ring noise,
For Jesus hides his face;
I read, the promise meets my eyes,
But will not reach my case.

Now Satan threatens to prevail,
And make my soul his prey;
Yet, Lord, thy mercies cannot fail,
O come without delay.


Scheme XXXX XXXX ABAB XCXC DXDX XXXX XEXE FGFG
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 11011111 0111 01111111 011111 11010101 110111 01010101 111111 0101111 011111 1101111 010111 01111101 011101 01111101 111101 11111101 111111 1111111 111111 11010101 110101 01010101 111101 1111011 110111 11010111 111111 11010101 011111 11110101 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 989
Words 195
Sentences 9
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 97
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
101

John Newton

Rev Dr John A Newton CBE is a prominent Methodist minister, author, historian and former President of the Methodist Conference. more…

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