Analysis of Psalm 90 part 2

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



v.8-12
C. M.
Infirmities and mortality the effect of sin.

Lord, if thine eye surveys our faults,
And justice grows severe,
Thy dreadful wrath exceeds our thoughts,
And burns beyond our fear.

Thine anger turns our frame to dust;
By one offence to thee
Adam with all his sons have lost
Their immortality.

Life, like a vain amusement, flies,
A fable or a song;
By swift degrees our nature dies,
Nor can our joys be long.

'Tis but a few whose days amount
To threescore years and ten;
And all beyond that short account
Is sorrow, toil, and pain.

[Our vitals with laborious strife
Bear up the crazy load,
And drag those poor remains of life
Along the tiresome road.]

Almighty God, reveal thy love,
And not thy wrath alone;
O let our sweet experience prove
The mercies of thy throne!

Our souls would learn the heav'nly art
T' improve the hours we have,
That we may act the wiser part,
And live beyond the grave.


Scheme AXX XBXB XAXA CDCD EXEX FGFG XHXH IXIX
Poetic Form
Metre 1 11 01000010000111 111101101 010101 110101101 0101101 110110111 11111 10111111 10100 11010101 010101 110110101 1110111 11011101 11101 01011101 110101 101101001 110101 01110111 0101001 01010111 011101 1110101001 010111 10111011 10101011 11110101 010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 883
Words 170
Sentences 12
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 88
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
57

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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