Analysis of Forgiveness
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
The green mounds of the village burial-place;
Where, pondering how all human love and hate
Find one sad level; and how, soon or late,
Wronged and wrongdoer, each with meekened face,
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of our common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!
Scheme | ABCDEFFEGHGEHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 0111010111 11010011101 1101011101 01110101001 11001110101 1111001111 101101111 0111010011 1011110101 101111101 111010011 10101010101 1111010100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 623 |
Words | 108 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 486 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 106 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 268 Views
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"Forgiveness" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22898/forgiveness>.
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