Analysis of The Over-Heart
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Above, below, in sky and sod,
In leaf and spar, in star and man,
Well might the wise Athenian scan
The geometric signs of God,
The measured order of His plan.
And India's mystics sang aright
Of the One Life pervading all,--
One Being's tidal rise and fall
In soul and form, in sound and sight,--
Eternal outflow and recall.
God is: and man in guilt and fear
The central fact of Nature owns;
Kneels, trembling, by his altar-stones,
And darkly dreams the ghastly smear
Of blood appeases and atones.
Guilt shapes the Terror: deep within
The human heart the secret lies
Of all the hideous deities;
And, painted on a ground of sin,
The fabled gods of torment rise!
And what is He? The ripe grain nods,
The sweet dews fall, the sweet flowers blow;
But darker signs His presence show
The earthquake and the storm are God's,
And good and evil interflow.
O hearts of love! O souls that turn
Like sunflowers to the pure and best!
To you the truth is manifest:
For they the mind of Christ discern
Who lean like John upon His breast!
In him of whom the sibyl told,
For whom the prophet's harp was toned,
Whose need the sage and magian owned,
The loving heart of God behold,
The hope for which the ages groaned!
Fade, pomp of dreadful imagery
Wherewith mankind have deified
Their hate, and selfishness, and pride!
Let the scared dreamer wake to see
The Christ of Nazareth at his side!
What doth that holy Guide require?
No rite of pain, nor gift of blood,
But man a kindly brotherhood,
Looking, where duty is desire,
To Him, the beautiful and good.
Gone be the faithlessness of fear,
And let the pitying heaven's sweet rain
Wash out the altar's bloody stain;
The law of Hatred disappear,
The law of Love alone remain.
How fall the idols false and grim!
And to! their hideous wreck above
The emblems of the Lamb and Dove!
Man turns from God, not God from him;
And guilt, in suffering, whispers Love!
The world sits at the feet of Christ,
Unknowing, blind, and unconsoled;
It yet shall touch His garment's fold,
And feel the heavenly Alchemist
Transform its very dust to gold.
The theme befitting angel tongues
Beyond a mortal's scope has grown.
O heart of mine! with reverence own
The fulness which to it belongs,
And trust the unknown for the known.
Scheme | ABBAB ACCXC DEEDE FGXFG HIIHC JKKJK LMMLM NOONO PXQPQ DRRDR STTST XALXL XUUXU |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01010101 01010101 110101001 0010111 01010111 01001011 10110101 11010101 01010101 010101 11010101 01011101 110011101 01010101 11101 11010101 01010101 110100100 01010111 0101111 01110111 011101101 11011101 0100111 010101 11111111 11010101 1101110 11011101 11110111 01110101 1101111 1101011 01011101 01110101 11110100 111110 11010001 10110111 011100111 11110110 11111111 1101010 101101010 11010001 110111 0101001011 1101101 0111001 01110101 11010101 011100101 01010101 11111111 010100101 01110111 010101 1111111 010100100 01110111 01010101 0101111 111111001 0111101 01001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,180 |
Words | 411 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 65 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 134 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 24, 2023
- 2:05 min read
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"The Over-Heart" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23154/the-over-heart>.
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