Analysis of Happy Solitude--Unhappy Men

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



My heart is easy, and my burden light;
I smile, though sad, when thou art in my sight:
The more my woes in secret I deplore,
I taste thy goodness, and I love thee more.

There, while a solemn stillness reigns around,
Faith, love, and hope within my soul abound;
And, while the world suppose me lost in care,
The joys of angels, unperceived, I share.

Thy creatures wrong thee, O thou sovereign good!
Thou art not loved, because not understood;
This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile
Ungrateful men, regardless of thy smile.

Frail beauty and false honour are adored;
While Thee they scorn, and trifle with thy Word;
Pass, unconcerned, a Saviour's sorrows by;
And hunt their ruin with a zeal to die.


Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF XXGG
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 1111001101 1111111011 0111010101 1111001111 1101010101 1101011101 0101011101 01110111 1101111101 111101101 1111110101 0101010111 110011101 1111010111 10101101 0111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 698
Words 128
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 137
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

38 sec read
100

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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