Analysis of Personality
"Death is to us change, not consummation."
Heart of Midlothian.
A change! no, surely, not a change,
The change must be before we die;
Death may confer a wider range,
From pole to pole, from sea to sky,
It cannot make me new or strange
To mine own Personality!
For what am I? -- this mortal flesh,
These shrinking nerves, this feeble frame,
For ever racked with ailments fresh
And scarce from day to day the same --
A fly within the spider's mesh,
A moth that plays around the flame!
THIS is not I -- within such coil
The immortal spirit rests awhile:
When this shall lie beneath the soil,
Which its mere mortal parts defile,
THAT shall for ever live and foil
Mortality, and pain, and guile.
Whatever Time may make of me
Eternity must see me still
Clear from the dross of earth, and free
From every stain of every ill;
Yet still, where-e'er -- what-e'er I be,
Time's work Eternity must fill.
When all the worlds have ceased to roll,
When the long light has ceased to quiver
When we have reached our final goal
And stand beside the Living River,
This vital spark -- this loving soul,
Must last for ever and for ever.
To choose what I must be is mine,
Mine in these few and fleeting days,
I may be if I will, divine,
Standing before God's throne in praise, --
Through all Eternity to shine
In yonder Heaven's sapphire blaze.
Father, the soul that counts it gain
To love Thee and Thy law on earth,
Unchanged but free from mortal stain,
Increased in knowledge and in worth,
And purified from this world's pain,
Shall find through Thee a second birth.
A change! no surely not a change!
The change must be before we die;
Death may confer a wider range
From world to world, from sky to sky,
It cannot make me new or strange
To mine own Personality!
Scheme | aa BCBcBD efefef ghgggh dididi jkjkjk lmlmlm nonono BCBcBD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111111010 111 01110101 01110111 11010101 11111111 11011111 1110100 11111101 11011101 11011101 01111101 0101011 01110101 11110111 001010101 11110101 1111011 11110101 01000101 1011111 01001111 11011101 1100111001 1111011011 11010011 11011111 101111110 111110101 010101010 11011101 111100110 11111111 10110101 11111101 10011101 11010011 010101001 10011111 11101111 01111101 01010001 0101111 11110101 01110101 01110111 11010101 11111111 11011111 1110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,820 |
Words | 330 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 149 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 82 Views
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"Personality" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20220/personality>.
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