Analysis of A Complaint On The Miseries Of Life
James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)
I loathe, O Lord, this life below,
And all its fading fleeting joys;
'Tis a short space that's fill'd with woe,
Which all our bliss by far outweighs.
When will the everlasting morn
With dawning light the skies adorn?
Fitly this life's compared to night,
When gloomy darkness shades the sky;
Just like the morn's our glimmering light
Reflected from the Deity.
When will celestial morn dispel
These dark surrounding shades of hell?
I'm sick of this vexatious state,
Where cares invade my peaceful hours;
Strike the last blow, O courteous fate,
I'll smiling fall like mowed flowers;
I'll gladly spurn this clogging clay,
And, sweetly singing, soar away.
What's money but refined dust?
What's honours but an empty name?
And what is soft enticing lust,
But a consuming idle flame?
Yea, what is all beneath the sky
But emptiness and vanity?
With thousand ills our life's oppress'd,
There's nothing here worth living for
In the lone grave I long to rest,
And be harass'd here no more:
Where joy's fantastic, grief's sincere,
And where there's nought for which I care.
Thy word, O Lord, shall be my guide,
Heaven, where thou dwellest is my goal;
Through corrupt life grant I may glide
With an untainted upward soul.
Then may this life, this dreary night,
Dispelled be by morning light.
Scheme | ABACDDEFEGHHIJIJKKLMLMFGNONOPQRSRSEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 01110101 10111111 11101111 1100101 11010101 1110111 11010101 1101101001 01010100 11010101 11010111 11110101 110111010 101111001 11011110 11011101 01010101 1101011 1111101 01110101 10010101 11110101 11000100 110110101 11011101 00111111 0101111 11010101 01111111 11111111 10111111 10111111 11010101 11111101 0111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,285 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,000 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 220 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 100 Views
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"A Complaint On The Miseries Of Life" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20547/a-complaint-on-the-miseries-of-life>.
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