Analysis of A Paraphrase On The Latter Part Of The Sixth Chapter Of St Matthew
James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)
When my breast labours with oppressive care,
And o'er my cheek descends the falling tear:
While all my warring passions are at strife,
Oh! let me listen to the words of life!
Raptures deep-felt his doctrine did impart,
And thus he rais'd from earth the drooping heart.
'Think not, when all your scanty stores afford,
Is spread at once upon the springing board;
Think not, when worn the homely robe appears,
While on the roof the howling tempest bears;
What farther shall this feeble life sustain,
And what shall clothe these shiv'ring limbs again.
Say, does not life its nourishment exceed?
And the fair body its investing weed?
Behold! and look away your low despair -
See the light tenants of the barren air:
To them, not stores, nor granaries, belong;
Nought, but the woodland, and the pleasing song;
Yet, your kind heav'nly Father bends his eye
On the least wing that flits along the sky.
To him they sing, when spring renews the plain;
To him they cry, in winter's pinching reign;
Nor is their music, nor their plaint in vain;
He hears the gay, and the distressful call;
And with unsparing bounty fills them all.'
'Observe the rising lily's snowy grace;
Observe the various vegetable race:
They neither toil, nor spin, but careless grow;
Yet see how warm they blush! how bright they glow!
What regal vestmentscan with them compare?
What king so shining! or what queen so fair!'
'If ceaseless, thus, the fowls of heav'n he feeds;
If o'er the fields such lucid robes he spreads;
Will he not care for you, ye faithless, say?
Is he unwise? or, are ye less than they?'
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFGHIIAAJJKKGGGLLMMNNAAOPQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111110101 01011010101 1111010111 1111010111 111110101 0111110101 1111110101 1111010101 1111010101 1101010101 1101110101 011111101 1111110001 0011010101 0101011101 1011010101 11111101 110100101 111110111 1011110101 1111110101 1111010101 1111011101 11010011 0101010111 010101101 0101001001 1101111101 1111111111 11011101 1111011111 1101011111 11001110111 111111111 1101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,545 |
Words | 282 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 35 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,218 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 277 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 29 Views
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"A Paraphrase On The Latter Part Of The Sixth Chapter Of St Matthew" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20551/a-paraphrase-on-the-latter-part-of-the-sixth-chapter-of-st-matthew>.
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