Analysis of Garden

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



O painter of the fruits and flowers,
We own wise design,
Where these human hands of ours
May share work of Thine!

Apart from Thee we plant in vain
The root and sow the seed;
Thy early and Thy later rain,
Thy sun and dew we need.

Our toil is sweet with thankfulness,
Our burden is our boon;
The curse of Earth's gray morning is
The blessing of its noon.

Why search the wide world everywhere
For Eden's unknown ground?
That garden of the primal pair
May nevermore be found.

But, blest by Thee, our patient toil
May right the ancient wrong,
And give to every clime and soil
The beauty lost so long.

Our homestead flowers and fruited trees
May Eden's orchard shame;
We taste the tempting sweets of these
Like Eve, without her blame.

And, North and South and East and West,
The pride of every zone,
The fairest, rarest, and the best
May all be made our own.

Its earliest shrines the young world sought
In hill-groves and in bowers,
The fittest offerings thither brought
Were Thy own fruits and flowers.

And still with reverent hands we cull
Thy gifts each year renewed;
The good is always beautiful,
The beautiful is good.


Scheme ABAB CDCD AEXE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM NANA OXOX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (89%)
Metre 110101010 11101 11101110 11111 01111101 010101 11001101 110111 1011111 10101101 01111101 010111 1101110 11011 11010101 11011 111110101 110101 011100101 010111 10110011 11101 11010111 110101 01010101 0111001 01010001 1111101 110010111 0110010 01010011 0111010 011100111 111101 0111100 010011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,090
Words 207
Sentences 11
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 98
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:03 min read
261

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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