Analysis of What The Voice Said
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
MADDENED by Earth's wrong and evil,
'Lord!' I cried in sudden ire,
'From Thy right hand, clothed with thunder,
Shake the bolted fire!
'Love is lost, and Faith is dying;
With the brute the man is sold;
And the dropping blood of labor
Hardens into gold.
'Here the dying wail of Famine,
There the battle's groan of pain;
And, in silence, smooth-faced Mammon
Reaping men like grain.
''Where is God, that we should fear Him?'
Thus the earth-born Titans say
'God! if Thou art living, hear us!'
Thus the weak ones pray.'
'Thou, the patient Heaven upbraiding,'
Spake a solemn Voice within;
'Weary of our Lord's forbearance,
Art thou free from sin?
'Fearless brow to Him uplifting,
Canst thou for His thunders call,
Knowing that to guilt's attraction
Evermore they fall?
'Know'st thou not all germs of evil
In thy heart await their time?
Not thyself, but God's restraining,
Stays their growth of crime.
'Couldst thou boast, O child of weakness!
O'er the sons of wrong and strife,
Were their strong temptations planted
In thy path of life?
'Thou hast seen two streamlets gushing
From one fountain, clear and free,
But by widely varying channels
Searching for the sea.
'Glideth one through greenest valleys,
Kissing them with lips still sweet;
One, mad roaring down the mountains,
Stagnates at their feet.
'Is it choice whereby the Parsee
Kneels before his mother's fire?
In his black tent did the Tartar
Choose his wandering sire?
'He alone, whose hand is bounding
Human power and human will,
Looking through each soul's surrounding,
Knows its good or ill.
'For thyself, while wrong and sorrow
Make to thee their strong appeal,
Coward wert thou not to utter
What the heart must feel.
'Earnest words must needs be spoken
When the warm heart bleeds or burns
With its scorn of wrong, or pity
For the wronged, by turns.
'But, by all thy nature's weakness,
Hidden faults and follies known,
Be thou, in rebuking evil,
Conscious of thine own.
'Not the less shall stern-eyed Duty
To thy lips her trumpet set,
But with harsher blasts shall mingle
Wailings of regret.'
Cease not, Voice of holy speaking,
Teacher sent of God, be near,
Whispering through the day's cool silence,
Let my spirit hear!
So, when thoughts of evil-doers
Waken scorn, or hatred move,
Shall a mournful fellow-feeling
Temper all with love.
Scheme | AXBB CDBD EFEF XGHG CIJI CKEK ALCL HMXM CNXN XOXO GBBB CPCP XQBQ ERNR HSAS NTAT CXJX XXCX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (78%) |
Metre | 1111010 1110101 11111110 101010 11101110 1010111 00101110 10011 10101110 1010111 0010111 10111 11111111 1011101 11111011 10111 1010101 1010101 101101010 11111 1011110 1111101 10111010 1011 111111110 0110111 1111010 11111 11111110 10011101 01101010 01111 1111110 1110101 111010010 10101 1111010 1011111 11101010 1111 1110101 10111010 01111010 1110010 10111110 10100101 10111010 11111 1111010 1111101 10111110 10111 10111110 1011111 11111110 10111 11111010 1010101 11001010 10111 10111110 1110101 11101110 1101 11111010 1011111 100101110 11101 11111010 1011101 10101010 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,228 |
Words | 400 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 18 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 107 Views
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"What The Voice Said" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23282/what-the-voice-said>.
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