Analysis of Thy Ship
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Hadst thou a ship, in whose vast hold lay stored
The priceless riches of all climes and lands,
Say, woudst thou let it float upon the seas
Unpiloted, of fickle winds the sport,
And of wild waves and hidden rocks the prey?
Thine is that ship; and in its depths concealed
Lies all the wealth of this vast universe –
Yea, lies some part of God’s omnipotence
The legacy divine of every soul.
Thy will, O man, thy will is that great ship,
And yet behold it drifting here and there –
One moment lying motionless in port,
Then on high seas by sudden impulse flung,
Then drying on the sands, and yet again
Sent forth on idle quests to no-man’s land
To carry nothing and to nothing bring;
Till worn and fretted by the aimless strife
And buffeted by vacillating winds
It flounders on a rock, or springs a leak
With all its unused treasures in the hold.
Go save thy ship, thou sluggard; that the wheel
And steer to knowledge, glory and success.
Great mariners have made the pathway plain
For thee to follow; hold thou to the course
Of Concentration Channel, and all things
Shall come in answer to thy swerveless wish
As comes the needle to the magnet’s call,
Or sunlight to the prisoned blade of grass
That yearns all winter for the kiss of spring.
Scheme | XXXAX XXXXXXAX XXBXXXX XXXXXXXXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011111 0101011101 1111110101 1110101 0111010101 1111001101 110111110 1111110100 01000111001 1111111111 0101110101 1101010001 1111110101 1101010101 1111011111 1101001101 1101010101 00111001 1101011101 1110110001 111111101 0111010001 110011011 1111011101 101010011 110101111 1101010101 111010111 1111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,235 |
Words | 232 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 8, 7, 9 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 244 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 62 Views
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"Thy Ship" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10949/thy-ship>.
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