Analysis of The Incomprehensible

Isaac Watts 1674 (Southampton, Hampshire) – 1748 (Stoke Newington, Middlesex)



FAR in the Heavens my God retires:
My God, the mark of my desires,
And hides his lovely face;
When he descends within my view,
He charms my reason to pursue,
But leaves it tir’d and fainting in th’ unequal chase.

Or if I reach unusual height
Till near his presence brought,
There floods of glory check my flight,
Cramp the bold pinions of my wit,
And all untune my thought;
Plunged in a sea of light I roll,
Where wisdom, justice, mercy, shines;
Infinite rays in crossing lines
Beat thick confusion on my sight, and overwhelm my soul.…
Great God! behold my reason lies
Adoring: yet my love would rise
On pinions not her own:
Faith shall direct her humble flight,
Through all the trackless seas of light,
To Thee, th’ Eternal Fair, the infinite Unknown.


Scheme XXABBA CDCXDEFFEGGHCCH
Poetic Form
Metre 100101101 110111010 011101 11010111 11110101 11110100110101 11110101 111101 11110111 1011111 01111 10011111 11010101 10010101 1101011100111 11011101 01011111 11101 11010101 1101111 11110101010001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 751
Words 140
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 15
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 293
Words per stanza (avg) 69
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 08, 2023

42 sec read
129

Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was an English Christian minister (Congregational), hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. He is recognized as the "Godfather of English Hymnody"; many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages. more…

All Isaac Watts poems | Isaac Watts Books

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