Analysis of The Word and the Deed
John Boyle O'Reilly 1844 (Dowth) – 1890 (Boston)
THE Word was first, says the revelation:
Justice is older than error or strife;
The Word preceded the Incarnation
As symbol and type of law and life.
And always so are the mighty changes:
The word must be sown in the heart like seed;
Men's hands must tend it, their lives defend it,
Till it burst into flower as a deathless Deed.
The primal truth neither dies nor slumbers,
But lives as the test of the common right,
That the laws proclaimed by the sworded numbers
May stand arraigned in the people's sight.
The Word is great, and no Deed is greater,
When both are of God, to follow or lead;
But, alas, for the truth when the Word comes later,
With questioned steps, to sustain the Deed.
Not the noblest acts can be true solutions;
The soul must be sated before the eye,
Else the passionate glory of revolutions
Shall pass like the flames that flash and die.
But forever the gain when the heart's convictions,
Rooted in nature the masses lead;
The cries of rebellion are benedictions
When the Word has flowered in a perfect Deed.
Scheme | ABABCDXD CEXEFGFD HIHIHGCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011110010 1011011011 0101000110 110011101 011101010 0111100111 1111111011 11101101011 010110111 1110110101 1010110110 110100101 0111011110 1111111011 101101101110 110110101 10101111010 0111100101 10100101010 111011101 101001101010 100100101 01101011 10111000011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,030 |
Words | 190 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 271 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 84 Views
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"The Word and the Deed" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22088/the-word-and-the-deed>.
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