Analysis of Easter Eve
John Keble 1792 (Fairford) – 1866 (Bournemouth)
At length the worst is o'er, and Thou art laid
Deep in Thy darksome bed;
All still and cold beneath yon dreary stone
Thy sacred form is gone;
Around those lips where power and mercy hung,
The dews of deaths have clung;
The dull earth o'er Thee, and Thy foes around,
Thou sleep'st a silent corse, in funeral fetters wound.
Sleep'st Thou indeed? or is Thy spirit fled,
At large among the dead?
Whether in Eden bowers Thy welcome voice
Wake Abraham to rejoice,
Or in some drearier scene Thine eye controls
The thronging band of souls;
That, as Thy blood won earth, Thine agony
Might set the shadowy realm from sin and sorrow free.
Where'er Thou roam'st, one happy soul, we know,
Seen at Thy side in woe,
Waits on Thy triumphs--even as all the blest
With him and Thee shall rest.
Each on his cross; by Thee we hang a while,
Watching Thy patient smile,
Till we have learned to say, "'Tis justly done,
Only in glory, LORD, Thy sinful servant own."
Soon wilt Thou take us to Thy tranquil bower
To rest one little hour,
Till Thine elect are numbered, and the grave
Call Thee to come and save:
Then on Thy bosom borne shall we descend
Again with earth to blend,
Earth all refined with bright supernal fires,
Tinctured with holy blood, and winged with pure desires.
Meanwhile with every son and saint of Thine
Along the glorious line,
Sitting by turns beneath Thy sacred feet
We'll hold communion sweet,
Know them by look and voice, and thank them all
For helping us in thrall,
For words of hope, and bright examples given
To show through moonless skies that there is light in Heaven.
O come that day, when in this restless heart
Earth shall resign her part,
When in the grave with Thee my limbs shall rest,
My soul with Thee be blest!
But stay, presumptuous--CHRIST with Thee abides
In the rock's dreary sides:
He from this stone will wring Celestial dew
If but this prisoner's heart he faithful found and true.
When tears are spent, and then art left alone
With ghosts of blessings gone,
Think thou art taken from the cross, and laid
In JESUS' burial shade;
Take Moses' rod, the rod of prayer, and call
Out of the rocky wall
The fount of holy blood; and lift on high
Thy grovelling soul that feels so desolate and dry.
Prisoner of Hope thou art--look up and sing
In hope of promised spring.
As in the pit his father's darling lay
Beside the desert way,
And knew not how, but knew his GOD would save
E'en from that living grave,
So, buried with our LORD, we'll chose our eyes
To the decaying world, till Angels bid us rise.
Scheme | ABCDEEFF BBGGHHII JJKKLLMC NNOOPPQQ RRSSTTMM UUKKVVWW CDAATTXX YYZZOO1 1 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011100111 10111 1101011101 110111 01111100101 011111 01110101101 11101010100101 11101111101 110101 10010101101 110101 101111101 01111 1111111100 1101001110101 10111110111 111101 11110101101 110111 1111111101 101101 1111111101 100101110101 11111111010 1111010 1101110001 111101 1111011101 011111 110111110 111010111010 1110010111 0101001 1011011101 110101 1111010111 110101 11110101010 111111111010 1111101101 110101 1001111111 111111 11010011101 001101 1111110101 1111001110101 1111011101 111101 1111010101 0101001 1101011101 110101 0111010111 11111110001 10011111101 011101 1001110101 010101 0111111111 1111101 110110111101 100101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,641 |
Words | 467 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 245 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 08, 2023
- 2:23 min read
- 86 Views
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"Easter Eve" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23559/easter-eve>.
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