Analysis of There Is No God, the Wicked Sayeth
Arthur Hugh Clough 1819 (Liverpool) – 1861 (Florence)
"There is no God," the wicked saith,
"And truly it's a blessing,
For what He might have done with us
It's better only guessing."
"There is no God," a youngster thinks,
"or really, if there may be,
He surely did not mean a man
Always to be a baby."
"There is no God, or if there is,"
The tradesman thinks, "'twere funny
If He should take it ill in me
To make a little money."
"Whether there be," the rich man says,
"It matters very little,
For I and mine, thank somebody,
Are not in want of victual."
Some others, also, to themselves,
Who scarce so much as doubt it,
Think there is none, when they are well,
And do not think about it.
But country folks who live beneath
The shadow of the steeple;
The parson and the parson's wife,
And mostly married people;
Youths green and happy in first love,
So thankful for illusion;
And men caught out in what the world
Calls guilt, in first confusion;
And almost everyone when age,
Disease, or sorrows strike him,
Inclines to think there is a God,
Or something very like Him.
Scheme | ABXB XCXC XCCC XDCD XEXE ADXD XFXF XGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 11110101 0101010 11111111 1101010 11110101 1101111 11011101 111010 11111111 011110 11111101 1101010 10110111 1101010 1101110 110111 11010101 1111111 11111111 0111011 11011101 011010 0100011 0101010 11010011 1101010 01110101 1101010 011011 0111011 01111101 1101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 991 |
Words | 201 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 12, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 75 Views
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"There Is No God, the Wicked Sayeth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3900/there-is-no-god%2C-the-wicked-sayeth>.
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