Analysis of Evolutionary Hymn
Clive Staples Lewis 1898 (Clive Staples Lewis Belfast) – 1963 (Oxford)
Lead us, Evolution, lead us
Up the future's endless stair;
Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.
For stagnation is despair:
Groping, guessing, yet progressing,
Lead us nobody knows where.
Wrong or justice, joy or sorrow,
In the present what are they
while there's always jam-tomorrow,
While we tread the onward way?
Never knowing where we're going,
We can never go astray.
To whatever variation
Our posterity may turn
Hairy, squashy, or crustacean,
Bulbous-eyed or square of stern,
Tusked or toothless, mild or ruthless,
Towards that unknown god we yearn.
Ask not if it's god or devil,
Brethren, lest your words imply
Static norms of good and evil
(As in Plato) throned on high;
Such scholastic, inelastic,
Abstract yardsticks we deny.
Far too long have sages vainly
Glossed great Nature's simple text;
He who runs can read it plainly,
'Goodness = what comes next.'
By evolving, Life is solving
All the questions we perplexed.
On then! Value means survival-
Value. If our progeny
Spreads and spawns and licks each rival,
That will prove its deity
(Far from pleasant, by our present,
Standards, though it may well be).
Scheme | ABABCB DEDECE FGFGAG HIHIXI JKJKCK HJHJXJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011 1010101 11111111 1010101 10101010 11111 11101110 0010111 111101 1110101 10101110 1110101 110010 10010011 10101010 1011111 11101110 01101111 11111110 1011101 10111010 1010111 1010010 011101 11111010 1110101 11111110 10111 10101110 1010101 11101010 10110100 10101110 1111100 111011010 1011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,108 |
Words | 191 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 145 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 92 Views
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"Evolutionary Hymn" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6935/evolutionary-hymn>.
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