Analysis of How precious are thy thoughts of peace

James Montgomery 1771 (Irvine) – 1854



How precious are thy thoughts of peace,
O God! to me; how great their sum!
New every morn, they never cease;
They were, they are, and yet shall come,
In number and in compass more
Than ocean's sand, or ocean's shore.

How from thy presence should I go
Or whither from thy spirit flee,
Since all above, around, below,
Exists in thine immensity?
I feel thine all-controlling will,
And thy right hand upholds me still.

Search me, O God! and know my heart;
Try me; my secret soul survey;
And warn thy servant to depart
From every false and evil way:
So shall thy truth my guidance be
To life and immortality.


Scheme ABABCC DEDFGG FHFHEE
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111 11111111 110011101 10110111 01000101 11011101 11110111 11011101 11010101 01011 11110101 01110111 11110111 11110101 01110101 110010101 11111101 1100100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 594
Words 114
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 155
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
111

James Montgomery

The Very Reverend James Francis Montgomery was an Anglican priest in the second half of the 19th century He studied for the bar before being ordained after a period of study at Durham University, and was a Curate at Puddletown before Edinburgh incumbencies. more…

All James Montgomery poems | James Montgomery Books

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    Repeated use of words for effect and emphasis is called ________.
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