Analysis of Psalm 44
Isaac Watts 1674 (Southampton, Hampshire) – 1748 (Stoke Newington, Middlesex)
v.1-8,8,15-26
C. M.
The church's complaint in persecution.
Lord, we have heard thy works of old,
Thy works of power and grace,
When to our ears our fathers told
The wonders of their days.
How thou didst build thy churches here,
And make thy gospel known;
Amongst them did thine arm appear,
Thy light and glory shone.
In God they boasted all the day,
And in a cheerful throng
Did thousands meet to praise and pray,
And grace was all their song.
But now our souls are seized with shame,
Confusion fills our face,
To hear the enemy blaspheme,
And fools reproach thy grace.
Yet have we not forgot our God,
Nor falsely dealt with heav'n,
Nor have our steps declined the road
Of duty thou hast giv'n;
Though dragons all around us roar
With their destructive breath,
And thine own hand has bruised us sore
Hard by the gates of death.
We are exposed all day to die
As martyrs for thy cause,
As sheep for slaughter bound we lie
By sharp and bloody laws.
Awake, arise, Almighty Lord,
Why sleeps thy wonted grace?
Why should we look like men abhorred
Or banished from thy face?
Wilt thou for ever cast us off,
And still neglect our cries?
For ever hide thine heav'nly love
From our afflicted eyes?
Down to the dust our soul is bowed,
And dies upon the ground;
Rise for our help, rebuke the proud,
And all their powers confound.
Redeem us from perpetual shame,
Our Savior and our God;
We plead the honors of thy name,
The merits of thy blood.
Scheme | XAB CDCX XEXE FGFG HDAD IBXB JKJK LXLX MDMD XNXN OPOP HIHX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 11 010010010 11111111 1111001 1110110101 010111 11111101 011101 01111101 110101 01110101 000101 11011101 011111 111011111 0101101 1101001 010111 111101101 110111 111010101 110111 11010111 110101 01111111 110111 11011111 110111 11110111 110101 01010101 11111 11111101 110111 11110111 0101101 1101111 1100101 110110111 010101 111010101 0111001 011101001 10100101 11010111 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,399 |
Words | 272 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 93 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 94 Views
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"Psalm 44" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19761/psalm-44>.
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