Analysis of Hymn 38

Isaac Watts 1674 (Southampton, Hampshire) – 1748 (Stoke Newington, Middlesex)



Love to God.

Happy the heart where graces reign,
Where love inspires the breast;
Love is the brightest of the train,
And strengthens all the rest.

Knowledge, alas! 'tis all in vain,
And all in vain our fear;
Our stubborn sins will fight and reign,
If love be absent there.

'Tis love that makes our cheerful feet
In swift obedience move;
The devils know and tremble too,
But Satan cannot love.

This is the grace that lives and sings
When faith and hope shall cease;
'Tis this shall strike our joyful strings
In the sweet, realms of bliss.

Before we quite forsake our clay,
Or leave this dark abode,
The wings of love bear us away
To see our smiling God.


Scheme A BCBC BXBX XXXX DXDX EXEA
Poetic Form
Metre 111 10011101 110101 11010101 010101 10011101 0101101 101011101 111101 111110101 0101001 01010101 110101 11011101 110111 111110101 001111 011101101 111101 01111101 1110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 640
Words 123
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 85
Words per stanza (avg) 20
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
110

Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was an English Christian minister (Congregational), hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. He is recognized as the "Godfather of English Hymnody"; many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages. more…

All Isaac Watts poems | Isaac Watts Books

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