Analysis of Gunpowder Treason
John Keble 1792 (Fairford) – 1866 (Bournemouth)
Beneath the burning eastern sky
The Cross was raised at morn:
The widowed Church to weep stood by,
The world, to hate and scorn.
Now, journeying westward, evermore
We know the lonely Spouse
By the dear mark her Saviour bore
Traced on her patient brows.
At Rome she wears it, as of old
Upon th' accursed hill:
By monarchs clad in gems and gold,
She goes a mourner still.
She mourns that tender hearts should bend
Before a meaner shrine,
And upon Saint or Angel spend
The love that should be thine.
By day and night her sorrows fall
Where miscreant hands and rude
Have stained her pure ethereal pall
With many a martyr's blood.
And yearns not her parental heart,
To hear THEIR secret sighs,
Upon whose doubting way apart
Bewildering shadows rise?
Who to her side in peace would cling,
But fear to wake, and find
What they had deemed her genial wing
Was Error's soothing blind.
She treasures up each throbbing prayer:
Come, trembler, come and pour
Into her bosom all thy care,
For she has balm in store.
Her gentle teaching sweetly blends
With this clear light of Truth
The aerial gleam that Fancy lends
To solemn thoughts in youth. -
If thou hast loved, in hours of gloom,
To dream the dead are near,
And people all the lonely room
With guardian spirits dear,
Dream on the soothing dream at will:
The lurid mist is o'er,
That showed the righteous suffering still
Upon th' eternal shore.
If with thy heart the strains accord,
That on His altar-throne
Highest exalt thy glorious Lord,
Yet leave Him most thine own;
Oh, come to our Communion Feast:
There present, in the heart
As in the hands, th' eternal Priest
Will His true self impart. -
Thus, should thy soul misgiving turn
Back to the enchanted air,
Solace and warning thou mayst learn
From all that tempts thee there.
And, oh! by all the pangs and fears
Fraternal spirits know,
When for an elder's shame the tears
Of wakeful anguish flow,
Speak gently of our sister's fall:
Who knows but gentle love
May win her at our patient call
The surer way to prove?
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG HXXX IJIJ KLKL MCMC NONO PQPQ EXEC RSRS TITI UMUM XVXV HXHX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 01010101 011111 01011111 011101 11001010 110101 1011011 110101 11111111 011111 1110101 110101 11110111 010101 00111101 011111 11010101 1100101 110101001 110011 01100101 111101 01110101 010011 11010111 111101 11110101 11101 11011101 11101 01010111 111101 01010101 111111 010011101 110101 111101011 110111 01010101 1100101 11010111 0101110 110101001 01110101 11110101 111101 100111001 111111 111100101 110001 1001110101 111101 11110101 1100101 10010111 111111 01110101 010101 1111101 11101 110110101 111101 110110101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,016 |
Words | 367 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 1:51 min read
- 152 Views
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"Gunpowder Treason" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23582/gunpowder-treason>.
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