Analysis of Time's Hymn Of Hate

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Oh, boastful, wicked land, that once was beautiful and great,
How bitter and how black must be your self-invited fate,
While Time goes down the centuries and sings his hymn of hate!

Time's voice is just. His words ring true. For as the past recedes,
The clear-eyed Future slowly writes the story of its deeds;
And as Time toward the Infinite his ceaseless flight is winging
He shall go singing
The hymn of hate, of men and gods, for all your deeds of lust,
For all your acts of cruelty and hell-concocted schemes
(More hideous than the darkest plot of which a devil dreams)
Which sprang from your Medusa head before it touched the dust.
Beneath the strangling hand of Fate
That strident voice of yours
Shall hush to silence, soon or late
That Justice that endures
Will mobilise its mighty ranks and free the human race,
Then shall all Space,
Yea, all the chains of sphere on sphere,
With that loud hymn be ringing,
Which Time goes singing
His far flight winging
And all the cherubims of God that dwell in regions o'er us
Shall swell the chorus.

Oh, boastful, wicked land, that once was beautiful and great,
How desolate and dark must be your self-invited fate,
While Time goes down the centuries and sings his hymn of hate!


Scheme AaA bbccdeedafafggxccchh AaA
Poetic Form
Metre 11010111110001 11001111110101 11110100011111 11111111110101 01110101010111 0110101001101110 11110 01111101111111 1111110010101 110010101110101 11110101011101 010100111 110111 11110111 110101 111101010101 1111 11011111 1111110 11110 11110 01011111010101 11010 11010111110001 11000111110101 11110100011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,206
Words 222
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 3, 20, 3
Lines Amount 26
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 323
Words per stanza (avg) 73
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:07 min read
46

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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