Analysis of Ultima Thule: The Sifting Of Peter
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
In St. Luke's Gospel we are told
How Peter in the days of old
Was sifted;
And now, though ages intervene,
Sin is the same, while time and scene
Are shifted.
Satan desires us, great and small,
As wheat to sift us, and we all
Are tempted;
Not one, however rich or great,
Is by his station or estate
Exempted.
No house so safely guarded is
But he, by some device of his,
Can enter;
No heart hath armor so complete
But he can pierce with arrows fleet
Its centre.
For all at last the cock will crow,
Who hear the warning voice, but go
Unheeding,
Till thrice and more they have denied
The Man of Sorrows, crucified
And bleeding.
One look of that pale, suffering face
Will make us feel the deep disgrace
Of weakness;
We shall be sifted till the strength
Of self-conceit be changed at length
To meekness.
Wounds of the soul, though healed, will ache;
The reddening scars remain, and make
Confession;
Lost innocence returns no more;
We are not what we were before
Transgression.
But noble souls, through dust and heat,
Rise from disaster and defeat
The stronger,
And conscious still of the divine
Within them, lie on earth supine
No longer.
Scheme | AABCCD EEDFFB GGHIIH JJKLLK MMXNNG XKOPPO IIHQQH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01110111 11000111 110 0111001 11011101 110 100101101 11111011 110 1110111 11110101 010 11110101 11110111 110 11110101 11111101 110 11110111 11010111 1 11011101 0111010 010 111111001 11110101 110 11110101 11011111 11 11011111 0110101 010 11000111 11111001 010 11011101 11010001 010 01011001 01111101 110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,104 |
Words | 209 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 161 Views
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