Analysis of To An Afflicted Protestant Lady In France
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Madam,-- A stranger's purpose in these
Is to congratulate and not to praise;
To give the creature the Creator's due
Were sin in me, and an offence to you.
From man to man, or e'en to woman paid,
Praise is the medium of a knavish trade,
A coin by craft for folly's use designed,
Spurious, and only current with the blind.
The path of sorrow, and that path alone
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown:
No traveller ever reached that blessed abode,
Who found not thorns and briers in his road.
The world my dance along the flowery plain,
Cheered as they go by many a sprightly strain;
Where nature has her mossy velvet spread,
With unshot feet they yet securely tread;
Admonished, scorn the caution nd the friend,
Bent all on pleasure, heedless of its end.
But He, who knew what human hearts would prove,
How slow to learn the dictates of his love,
That, hard by nature and of stubborn will,
A life of ease would make them harder still,
In pity to the souls of grace designed
To rescue from the ruins of mankind,
Called for a cloud to darken all their years,
And said, 'Go spend them in the vale of tears!'
O balmy gates of soul-reviving air!
O salutary streams that murmur there!
These flowing from the Fount of Grace above,
Those breathed from lips of everlasting love.
The flinty soil indeed their feet annoys,
Chill blasts of trouble nip their springing joys,
An envious world will interpose its frown
To mar delights superior to its own,
And many a pang experienced still within,
Reminds them of their hated inmate, Sin.
But ills of every shape and every name,
Transformed to blessings, miss their cruel aim;
And every moment's calm that soothes the breast
Is given in earnest of eternal rest.
Ah, be not sad, although thy lot be cast
Far from the flock, and in a boundless waste!
No shepherd's tents within thy view appear,
But the chief Shepherd even there is near;
Thy tender sorrows and thy plaintive strain
Flow in a foreign land, but not in vain;
Thy tears all issue from a source divine,
And every drop bespeaks a Saviour thine.
So once in Gideon's fleece the dews were found,
And drought on all the drooping herbs around.
Scheme | ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKLMMEENOPPLLQQRFSSTTUUVWXXHHYYZZ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 100101001 110100111 11010011 010101111 11111111101 1101001011 011111101 10001010101 0111001101 1101110101 11001011101 111101011 01110101001 11111100101 110101101 111110101 0101010101 111101111 1111110111 1111001111 1111001101 0111111101 0101011101 1101010111 1101110111 0111100111 1101110101 110011101 1101011101 111110101 0101011101 1111011101 1100110111 11010100111 010010100101 011111011 111100101001 0111011101 01001011101 11001010101 111111111 1101000101 1101011101 1011010111 1101001101 1001011101 1111010101 0100101011 110110101 0111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,096 |
Words | 393 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 50 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,677 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 389 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:59 min read
- 51 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"To An Afflicted Protestant Lady In France" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 15 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40209/to-an-afflicted-protestant-lady-in-france>.
Discuss this William Cowper 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