Analysis of Lines From A Letter To A Young Clerical Friend
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
A STRENGTH Thy service cannot tire,
A faith which doubt can never dim,
A heart of love, a lip of fire,
O Freedom's God! be Thou to him!
Speak through him words of power and fear,
As through Thy prophet bards of old,
And let a scornful people hear
Once more Thy Sinai-thunders rolled.
For lying lips Thy blessing seek,
And hands of blood are raised to Thee,
And on Thy children, crushed and weak,
The oppressor plants his kneeling knee.
Let then, O God! Thy servant dare
Thy truth in all its power to tell,
Unmask the priestly thieves, and tear
The Bible from the grasp of hell!
From hollow rite and narrow span
Of law and sect by Thee released,
Oh, teach him that the Christian man
Is holier than the Jewish priest.
Chase back the shadows, gray and old,
Of the dead ages, from his way,
And let his hopeful eyes behold
The dawn of Thy millennial day;
That day when lettered limb and mind
Shall know the truth which maketh free,
And he alone who loves his kind
Shall, childlike, claim the love of Thee!
Scheme | ABABCDEDFGFGHIHIJKJKDLDLMGMG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011101010 01111101 011101110 11011111 111111001 11110111 01010101 1111101 11011101 01111111 01110101 001011101 11111101 110111011 01010101 01010111 11010101 11011101 11110101 110010101 1101101 10110111 01110101 011101001 11110101 1101111 01011111 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 981 |
Words | 191 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 779 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 189 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 28 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Lines From A Letter To A Young Clerical Friend" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22961/lines-from-a-letter-to-a-young-clerical-friend>.
Discuss this John Greenleaf Whittier poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In