Analysis of Of Godly Fear

John Bunyan 1628 (Elstow, Bedfordshire) – 1688 (London)



Us godly fear delightful unto thee,
That fear that God himself delights to see

Bear sway in them that love him? then he will
Thy godly mind in this request fulfil.

By giving thee a fear that tremble shall,
At every trip thou takest, lest thou fall,

And him offend, or hurt thyself by sin,
Or cause poor souls that always blind have been

To stumble at thy falls, and harder be
Against their own salvation and thee.

That fear that of itself would rather choose
The rod, than to offend or to abuse

In anything that blessed worthy name,
That hath thee saved from that death and shame;

That sin would soon have brought thee to, if he
Had not imputed righteousness to thee.

I will love them, saith God, and not depart
From them, but put my fear within their heart,

That I to them may always lovely be,
And that they never may depart from me.


Scheme AA BB XX CC AA XX DD AA EE AA
Poetic Form Couplet 
Metre 1101010101 1111010111 1101111111 110101011 1101011101 1100111111 010111111 111111111 1101110101 011101001 1111011101 0111011101 01011101 111111101 1111111111 1101010011 1111110101 1111110111 111111101 0111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 824
Words 161
Sentences 6
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 66
Words per stanza (avg) 16
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
130

John Bunyan

John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, who is well known for his book The Pilgrim's Progress. more…

All John Bunyan poems | John Bunyan Books

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