Analysis of Fifth Sunday After Easter - Rogation Sunday
John Keble 1792 (Fairford) – 1866 (Bournemouth)
Now is there solemn pause in earth and heaven;
The Conqueror now
His bonds hath riven,
And Angels wonder why He stays below:
Yet hath not man his lesson learned,
How endless love should be returned.
Deep is the silence as of summer noon,
When a soft shower
Will trickle soon,
A gracious rain, freshening the weary bower -
O sweetly then far off is heard
The clear note of some lonely bird.
So let Thy turtle-dove's sad call arise
In doubt and fear
Through darkening skies,
And pierce, O Lord, Thy justly-sealed ear,
Where on the house-top, all night long
She trills her widowed, faltering song.
Teach her to know and love her hour of prayer,
And evermore,
As faith grows rare,
Unlock her heart, and offer all its store
In holier love and humbler vows,
As suits a lost returning spouse.
Not as at first, but with intenser cry,
Upon the mount
She now must lie,
Till Thy dear love to blot the sad account
Of her rebellious race be won,
Pitying the mother in the son.
But chiefly (for she knows Thee angered worst
By holiest things
Profaned and curst),
Chiefly for Aaron's seed she spreads her wings,
If but one leaf she may from Thee
Win of the reconciling tree.
For what shall heal, when holy water banes!
Or who may guide
O'er desert plains
Thy loved yet sinful people wandering wide,
If Aaron's hand unshrinking mould
An idol form of earthly gold?
Therefore her tears are bitter, and as deep
Her boding sigh,
As, while men sleep,
Sad-hearted mothers heave, that wakeful lie,
To muse upon some darling child
Roaming in youth's uncertain wild.
Therefore on fearful dreams her inward sight
Is fain to dwell -
What lurid light
Shall the last darkness of the world dispel,
The Mediator in His wrath
Descending down the lightning's path.
Yet, yet awhile, offended Saviour, pause,
In act to break
Thine outraged laws,
O spare Thy rebels for Thine own dear sake;
Withdraw Thine hand, nor dash to earth
The covenant of our second birth.
'Tis forfeit like the first--we own it all -
Yet for love's sake
Let it not fall;
But at Thy touch let veiled hearts awake,
That nearest to Thine altar lie,
Yet least of holy things descry.
Teacher of teachers! Priest of priests! from Thee
The sweet strong prayer
Must rise, to free
First Levi, then all Israel, from the snare.
Thou art our Moses out of sight -
Speak for us, or we perish quite.
Scheme | AXAXBB CDCDEE FXFXGG HIHIXX JKJKAA XLBLMM NONOPP QJQJRR STSTUU VWVWXX YWYWJD MHMHSS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101010 01001 11110 0101011101 11111101 11011101 1101011101 10110 1101 010110001010 11011111 01111101 1111011101 0101 11001 011111011 11011111 110101001 10110101011 010 1111 0101010111 0100101001 11010101 11111111 0101 1111 1111110101 10010111 100010001 1101111101 11001 101 1011011101 11111111 1101001 1111110101 1111 10101 11110101001 110111 11011101 101110011 011 1111 110101111 11011101 10010101 111010101 1111 1101 1011010101 0100011 0101011 110101011 0111 111 1111011111 01111111 0100110101 1101011111 1111 1111 111111101 11011101 1111011 1011011111 0111 1111 11011100101 111010111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,429 |
Words | 425 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 152 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:09 min read
- 80 Views
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"Fifth Sunday After Easter - Rogation Sunday" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23565/fifth-sunday-after-easter---rogation-sunday>.
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