Analysis of 'He Giveth His Beloved Sleep'
Andrew Barton Paterson 1864 (Orange, New South Wales) – 1941 (Sydney, New South Wales)
The long day passes with its load of sorrow:
In slumber deep
I lay me down to rest until tomorrow,
Thank God for sleep.
Thank God for all respite from weary toiling,
From cares that creep
Across our lives like evil shadows, spoiling
God's kindly sleep.
We plough and sow, and, as the hours grow later,
We strive to reap,
And build our barns, and hope to build them greater
Before we sleep.
We toil and strain and strive with one another
In hopes to heap
Some greater share of profit than our brother
Before we sleep.
What will it profit that with tears or laughter
Our watch we keep?
Beyond it all there lies the Great Hereafter!
Thank God for sleep!
For, at the last, beseeching Christ to save us
We turn with deep
Heartfelt thanksgiving unto God, who gave us
The Gift of Sleep.
Scheme | abaB cbcb dbdB dbdB dbdB ebeb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 01110111110 0101 1111110101 1111 11111011010 1111 01101110110 1101 110101010110 1111 011010111110 0111 11010111010 0111 110111011010 0111 11110111110 10111 01111101010 1111 11010101111 1111 110101111 0111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 764 |
Words | 148 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 57 Views
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"'He Giveth His Beloved Sleep'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2531/%27he-giveth-his-beloved-sleep%27>.
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