Analysis of Truth And Divine Love Rejected By The World

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



O love, of pure and heavenly birth!
O simple truth, scarce known on earth!
Whom men resist with stubborn will;
And, more perverse and daring still,
Smother and quench, with reasonings vain,
While error and deception reign.

Whence comes it, that, your power the same
As His on high from whence you came,
Ye rarely find a listening ear,
Or heart that makes you welcome here?—
Because ye bring reproach and pain,
Where'er ye visit, in your train.

The world is proud, and cannot bear
The scorn and calumny ye share;
The praise of men the mark they mean,
They fly the place where ye are seen;
Pure love, with scandal in the rear,
Suits not the vain; it costs too dear.

Then, let the price be what it may,
Though poor, I am prepared to pay;
Come shame, come sorrow; spite of tears,
Weakness, and heart–oppressing fears;
One soul, as least, shall not repine,
To give you room; come, reign in mine!


Scheme AABBCC DDEECC FFGGHH IIXXCX
Poetic Form
Metre 111101001 11011111 11011101 01010101 1001111 11000101 111111001 11111111 110101001 11111101 01110101 10110011 01110101 01010011 01110111 11011111 11110001 11011111 11011111 11110111 11110111 10010101 1111111 11111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 879
Words 166
Sentences 8
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 171
Words per stanza (avg) 41
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

50 sec read
88

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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