Analysis of Better And Best

William Arthur Dunkerley 1852 (Manchester) – 1941 (Worthing)



Better in bitterest agony to lie,
Before Thy throne,
Than through much increase to be lifted up on high,
And stand alone.

Better by one sweet soul, constant and true,
To be beloved,
Than all the kingdoms of delight to trample through,
Unloved, unloved.

Yet best--the need that broke me at Thy feet,
In voiceless prayer,
And cast my chastened heart, a sacrifice complete,
Upon Thy care.

For all the world is nought, and less than nought,
Compared with this,--
That my dear Lord, with His own life, my ransom bought,
And I am His.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF DXXX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 10010010011 0111 111011110111 0101 1011111001 1101 110101011101 0101 1101111111 0101 01110101001 0111 1101110111 0111 111111111101 0111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 522
Words 99
Sentences 4
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
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 August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
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