Analysis of Psalm 125

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



The saint's trial and safety.

Unshaken as the sacred hill,
And firm as mountains be,
Firm as a rock the soul shall rest
That leans, O Lord, on thee.

Not walls nor hills could guard so well
Old Salem's happy ground,
As those eternal arms of love
That every saint surround.

While tyrants are a smarting scourge
To drive them near to God,
Divine compassion does allay
The fury of the rod.

Deal gently, Lord, with souls sincere,
And lead them safely on
To the bright gates of Paradise,
Where Christ their Lord is gone.

But if we trace those crooked ways
That the old serpent drew,
The wrath that drove him first to hell
Shall smite his followers too.


Scheme A XAXA BCXC XDXD XXXX XEBE
Poetic Form
Metre 0110010 01010101 011101 11010111 111111 11111111 110101 11010111 1100101 11010101 111111 01010101 010101 11011101 011101 1011110 111111 11111101 101101 01111111 1111001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 634
Words 122
Sentences 7
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

37 sec read
42

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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