Analysis of Against Lying
Isaac Watts 1674 (Southampton, Hampshire) – 1748 (Stoke Newington, Middlesex)
O 'tis a lovely thing for youth
To early walk in wisdom's way;
To fear a lie, to speak the truth,
That we may trust to all they say!
But liars we can never trust,
Even when they say what is true.
And he who does one fault at first
And lies to hide it, makes it two.
Have we not known, nor heard, nor read
How God does hate deceit and wrong?
How Ananias was struck dead,
Caught with a lie upon his tongue?
So did his wife Sapphira die,
When she came in, and grew so bold
As to confirm that wicked lie,
Which just before her husband told.
The Lord delights in them that speak
The words of truth; but every liar
Must have his portion in the lake
That burns with brimstone and with fire.
Scheme | ABAB XCXC DXDX EFEF XGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11010111 1101011 11011101 11111111 11011101 10111111 01111111 01111111 11111111 11110101 11111 11010111 111111 11100111 11011101 11010101 01010111 0111110010 11110001 111100110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 672 |
Words | 141 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 105 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 04, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 129 Views
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"Against Lying" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19416/against-lying>.
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