Analysis of Psalm 37 part 3

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



v.23-87
C. M.
The way and end of the righteous and the wicked.

My God, the steps of pious men
Are ordered by thy will;
Though they should fall, they rise again,
Thy hand supports them still.

The Lord delights to see their ways,
Their virtue he approves;
He'll ne'er deprive them of his grace,
Nor leave the men he loves.

The heav'nly heritage is theirs,
Their portion and their home;
He feeds them now, and makes them heirs
Of blessings long to come.

Wait on the Lord, ye sons of men,
Nor fear when tyrants frown;
Ye shall confess their pride was vain,
When justice casts them down.

The haughty sinner have I seen,
Nor fearing man nor God,
Like a tall bay-tree, fair and green,
Spreading his arms abroad.

And lo! he vanished from the ground,
Destroyed by hands unseen;
Nor root, nor branch, nor leaf was found
Where all that pride had been.

But mark the man of righteousness,
His several steps attend;
True pleasure runs through all his ways,
And peaceful is his end.


Scheme XXX ABAB CXXX DXDX AEXE FXFX GFGX XHCH
Poetic Form
Metre 1 11 010110100010 11011101 110111 11111101 110111 01011111 110101 11011111 110111 0110011 110011 11110111 110111 11011111 111101 11011111 110111 01010111 110111 10111101 101101 01110101 011101 11111111 111111 11011100 110101 11011111 010111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 952
Words 182
Sentences 14
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 94
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 02, 2023

55 sec read
121

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…

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