Analysis of Holding on to Death

Richard Groff 1957 (Pottstown, Pa.)



Although the church is mostly dead
There are still a few alive
And if they’ll strengthen what remains
Perhaps they will survive

God will preserve a remnant
Just the way He’s always done
A few without stains on their clothes
The way they had begun

But most of them won’t wake up
Till their meal is on their plate
And grief will overcome them
When they taste the things, they ate

The murder and the envy
And the anger and the strife
They chose to hold these deep inside
Instead of choosing life


Scheme XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1011101 1110101 01110101 011101 1101010 101111 01011111 011101 1111111 1111111 011101 1110111 0100010 0010001 11111101 011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 501
Words 96
Sentences 1
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 99
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Written on July 10, 2009

Submitted by dawg4jesus on October 31, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
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