Analysis of A Sonnet of Faith

William Gay 1865 (Scotland) – 1897



I am not daunted by the show of things,
Nor do I pass them with averted eyes,
Feigning I do not see, nor on the wings
Of fair deluding fancy lightly rise
And from afar the radiant world behold
In happy silence spinning smoothly by.
Nay, but by night and day, in heat and cold,
Among the multitudes who toil and die
I come and go observant, near at hand,
10Regarding Life with eyes that do not shrink:
I see the victor on his carrion stand,
And see in impious blood the vanquished sink,
Yea, even behold where waits the delvèd sod,
Yet sing unfaltering of the soul and God.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet 
Metre 1111010111 1111110101 1011111101 1101010101 01010100101 0101010101 1111010101 010101101 1101010111 0101111111 11010111001 01001010101 11001110111 11110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 568
Words 112
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 447
Words per stanza (avg) 110
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
121

William Gay

William Gay (2 May 1865 – 22 December 1897) was a Scottish-born Australian poet. more…

All William Gay poems | William Gay Books

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