Analysis of My Childhood God
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
When I was small the Lord appeared
Unto my mental eye
A gentle giant with a beard
Who homed up in the sky.
But soon that vasty vision blurred,
And faded in the end,
Till God is just another word
I cannot comprehend.
I envy those of simple faith
Who bend the votive knee;
Who do not doubt divinely death
Will set their spirits free.
Oh could I be like you and you,
Sweet souls who scan this line,
And by dim altar worship too
A Deity Divine!
Alas! Mid passions that appal
I ask with bitter woe
Is God responsible for all
Our horror here below?
He made the hero and the saint,
But did He also make
The cannibal in battle paint,
The shark and rattlesnake?
If I believe in God I should
Believe in Satan too;
The one the source of all our good,
The other of our rue . . .
Oh could I second childhood gain!
For then it might be, I
Once more would see that vision plain,--
Fond Father in the sky.
Scheme | ABABCDCD XEXEFGFG HXHHIJIJ KFKFLBLB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 101101 01010101 111001 1111101 010001 11110101 11001 11011101 11011 11110101 111101 11111101 111111 01110101 010001 0111011 111101 11010011 1010101 11010001 111101 01000101 01010 11010111 010101 010111101 0101101 1111011 111111 11111101 110001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,019 |
Words | 179 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 172 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 35 Views
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