Analysis of In Evil Long I Took Delight
John Newton 1725 (Wapping, London) – 1807 (London)
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
Sure, never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.
A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.”
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief and mournful joy,
My spirit now is fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill'd.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DXDX EFEF XXXX XGXG HIHI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (57%) |
Metre | 01011101 11111 10110111 011101 11110101 010001 11110111 111111 11011101 110111 11111111 110111 11010101 011001 11111111 011111 01011111 110101 11111101 111111 11111101 011101 11010011 111101 11010101 110111 11110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 830 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 301 Views
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"In Evil Long I Took Delight" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23945/in-evil-long-i-took-delight>.
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