Analysis of He That Hath Ears

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.'-

St. John the Divine.

The Spirit says unto the churches,
'Ere ever the churches began
I lived in the centre of Being-
The life of the Purpose and Plan;
I flowed from the mind of the Maker
Through nature to man.

'I sleep in the glow of the jewel,
I wake in the sap of the tree,
I stir in the beast of the forest,
I reason in man, and am free
To turn on the path of Ascension
To the god yet to be.

'I was, and I am, and I will be;
I live in each church and each faith,
But yield to no bond and no fetter,
I animate all with my breath;
I speak through the voice of the living,
And I speak after death.'

The Spirit says unto the churches
'The dead are not gone, they are near;
And my voice, when I will it, speaks through them,
Speaks through them in messages clear.
And he that hath ears, in the silence
May listen and hear.'

The Spirit says unto the churches,
'So many the feet that have trod
The road leading up into knowledge,
The steep narrow path has grown broad;
And the curtain held down by old dogmas
Is lifted by God.'


Scheme a x Abcbdb xexexe exdfcf Agxgxx Ahxxah
Poetic Form
Metre 111111111010110010 11001 010110010 11001001 110010110 01101001 111011010 11011 110011010 11001101 110011010 11001011 111011010 101111 110110111 11011011 111110110 11001111 111011010 011101 010110010 01111111 0111111111 11101001 011110010 11001 010110010 11001111 011010110 01101111 001011111 11011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,078
Words 230
Sentences 10
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 119
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:08 min read
101

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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