Analysis of The Reward
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Who, looking backward from his manhood's prime,
Sees not the spectre of his misspent time?
And, through the shade
Of funeral cypress planted thick behind,
Hears no reproachful whisper on the wind
From his loved dead?
Who bears no trace of passion's evil force?
Who shuns thy sting, O terrible Remorse?
Who does not cast
On the thronged pages of his memory's book,
At times, a sad and half-reluctant look,
Regretful of the past?
Alas! the evil which we fain would shun
We do, and leave the wished-for good undone
Our strength to-day
Is but to-morrow's weakness, prone to fall;
Poor, blind, unprofitable servants all
Are we alway.
Yet who, thus looking backward o'er his years,
Feels not his eyelids wet with grateful tears,
If he hath been
Permitted, weak and sinful as he was,
To cheer and aid, in some ennobling cause,
His fellow-men?
If he hath hidden the outcast, or let in
A ray of sunshine to the cell of sin;
If he hath lent
Strength to the weak, and, in an hour of need,
Over the suffering, mindless of his creed
Or home, hath bent;
He has not lived in vain, and while he gives
The praise to Him, in whom he moves and lives,
With thankful heart;
He gazes backward, and with hope before,
Knowing that from his works he nevermore
Can henceforth part.
Scheme | AAXBBX CCDEED FFXGGX XXHIIX HHJKKJ LLMNNM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101111 1101011011 0101 11001010101 11110101 1111 111111101 1111110001 1111 101101111 1101010101 010101 0101011111 1101011101 10111 111110111 1101000101 111 11110101011 111111101 1111 0101010111 1101010101 1101 1111001110 011110111 1111 11010011011 10010010111 1111 1111010111 0111011101 1101 1101001101 101111110 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,228 |
Words | 230 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 163 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 62 Views
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"The Reward" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23187/the-reward>.
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