Analysis of Hymn II

John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)



O HOLY FATHER! just and true
Are all Thy works and words and ways,
And unto Thee alone are due
Thanksgiving and eternal praise!
As children of Thy gracious care,
We veil the eye, we bend the knee,
With broken words of praise and prayer,
Father and God, we come to Thee.
For Thou hast heard, O God of Right,
The sighing of the island slave;
And stretched for him the arm of might,
Not shortened that it could not save.
The laborer sits beneath his vine,
The shackled soul and hand are free;
Thanksgiving! for the work is Thine!
Praise! for the blessing is of Thee!
And oh, we feel Thy presence here,
Thy awful arm in judgment bare!
Thine eye hath seen the bondman's tear;
Thine ear hath heard the bondman's prayer.
Praise! for the pride of man is low,
The counsels of the wise are naught,
The fountains of repentance flow;
What hath our God in mercy wrought?
Speed on Thy work, Lord God of Hosts!
And when the bondman's chain is riven,
And swells from all our guilty coasts
The anthem of the free to Heaven,
Oh, not to those whom Thou hast led,
As with Thy cloud and fire before,
But. unto Thee, in fear and dread,
Be praise and glory evermore.


Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGDGDHCCCIJIJKLKLMNMN
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 11110101 01010111 1000101 11011101 11011101 11011101 10011111 11111111 01010101 01110111 11011111 010010111 01010111 1010111 11010111 01111101 11010101 1111011 1111011 11011111 01010111 01010101 111010101 11111111 01011110 011110101 010101110 11111111 111101001 11010101 1101010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,120
Words 219
Sentences 16
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 32
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 883
Words per stanza (avg) 217
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:06 min read
72

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. more…

All John Greenleaf Whittier poems | John Greenleaf Whittier Books

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