Analysis of At Last

John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)



When on my day of life the night is falling,
And, in the winds from unsunned spaces blown,
I hear far voices out of darkness calling
My feet to paths unknown,

Thou who hast made my home of life so pleasant,
Leave not its tenant when its walls decay;
O Love Divine, O Helper ever present,
Be Thou my strength and stay!

Be near me when all else is from me drifting
Earth, sky, home's pictures, days of shade and shine,
And kindly faces to my own uplifting
The love which answers mine.

I have but Thee, my Father! let Thy spirit
Be with me then to comfort and uphold;
No gate of pearl, no branch of palm I merit,
Nor street of shining gold.

Suffice it if--my good and ill unreckoned,
And both forgiven through Thy abounding grace--
I find myself by hands familiar beckoned
Unto my fitting place.

Some humble door among Thy many mansions,
Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease,
And flows forever through heaven's green expansions
The river of Thy peace.

There, from the music round about me stealing,
I fain would learn the new and holy song,
And find at last, beneath Thy trees of healing,
The life for which I long.


Scheme ABAB CDCD AEAE FGFG CHXH IJIJ AKAK
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11111101110 000111101 11110111010 111101 11111111110 1111011101 11011101010 111101 11111111110 1111011101 0101011110 011101 11111101110 1111110001 11111111110 111101 011111011 01010110101 1111101010 101101 11010111010 11001110101 010101101010 010111 11010101110 1111010101 01110111110 011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,107
Words 211
Sentences 8
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 126
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 03, 2023

1:03 min read
183

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. more…

All John Greenleaf Whittier poems | John Greenleaf Whittier Books

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