Analysis of Good Templars' Song

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Ye soldiers in the temperance cause,
Our work is but begun.
Oh! sit not down in idleness
And think the field is won.
Our lambs are straying from the fold,
The wolves are on the track:
Oh! can you sit and see them go,
Nor strive to bring them back?

O Good Templars!
There's work for us to-day.
Then gird your armor on again,
And only pause to pray.

Whichever way the eye may turn,
It sees the rum-shop stand
With open door and flowing bowl,
A viper in the land.
The grapes are hanging from the vines,
All ready for the press.
Before, behind, on every side
Are seeds of drunkenness.

Our foes are all untiring,
But God is with the right,
And we will conquer at the last-
Then onward to the fight!
Ay, onward to the battle-field,
Each woman, child, and man!
King Alcohol shall yet go down
With all his demon clan.


Scheme XABAXCXC XDXD XEXEXXXB CFXFXGXG
Poetic Form
Metre 110001001 1011101 11110100 010111 101110101 011101 11110111 111111 1110 111111 11110101 010111 01010111 110111 11010101 010001 01110101 110101 010111001 111100 101111 111101 01110101 110101 11010101 110101 1101111 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 814
Words 162
Sentences 16
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 8, 8
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 155
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
57

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

All Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems | Ella Wheeler Wilcox Books

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