Analysis of At The Ford.
Theodore Harding Rand 1835 – 1900
A death-like dew was falling
On the herbs and the grassy ground;
The stars to their bournes prest forward,
Night cloaked the hills around.
He thought of a night long past, -
Of the ladder that reached to heaven,
The Face that shone above it,
The pillar, his pillows of even.
From out of the sleeve of the darkness
Was thrust an arm of strength, -
Long he wrestled for mastery,
But begged for blessing at length.
White fear fell on him at dawn,
As the Nameless spake with him then;
"Prevailer and Prince," called He him,
"A power with God and with men."
And, alone, the lame wrestler mused:
"The Face of God is this place!
Ah me - and my life is preserved,
Yet God have I seen face to face!"
Life's darkness is background for God,
For unsleeping Love's high command,
And the shadowy heap of each life
Is revealed at the touch of His hand.
And the arm of Love doth wrestle
All night by the fords we cross,
To shrivel our sinews of self
And give His blessing for loss.
Night shows the houses of heaven,
O pilgrim for life's journey shod!
And from out the sleeve of darkness
Is thrust the arm of God.
Scheme | XAXA XBXX CDXD XEXE XFXF GHXH XIXI BGCG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 0111110 10100101 01111110 110101 1110111 101011110 0111011 010110110 111011010 111111 11101100 1111011 1111111 10101111 101111 01011011 001011001 0111111 11011101 11111111 1101111 111101 001001111 101101111 00111110 1110111 11010111 0111011 11010110 11011101 01101110 110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,110 |
Words | 228 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
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"At The Ford." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56698/at-the-ford.>.
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