Analysis of A Prayer { For Those Who Shall Return}

Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931



LORD, when they come back again
From the dreadful battlefield
To the common ways of men,
Be Thy mercy, Lord, revealed!
Make them to forget the dread
Fields of dying and the dead!

Let them go unhaunted, Lord,
By the sights that they have seen:
Guard their dreams from shell and sword;
Lead them by the pastures green,
That they wander all night long
In the fields where they were young.

Grant no charnel horrors slip
'Twixt them and their child's soft face.
Breast to breast and lip to lip,
Let the lovers meet, embrace!
Be they innocent of all
Memories that affright, appal.

Let their ears love music still,
And their eyes rejoice to see
Glory on the sea and hill,
Beauty in the flower and tree.
Drop a veil that none may raise
Over dreadful nights and days.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEXX FGFGHH IJIJKK
Poetic Form
Metre 1111101 101010 1010111 1110101 1110101 1110001 11111 1011111 1111101 1110101 1110111 0011101 111101 1101111 1110111 1010101 1110011 100111 1111101 0110111 1010101 10001001 1011111 1010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 759
Words 142
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 149
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
109

Katharine Tynan

Katharine Tynan was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. more…

All Katharine Tynan poems | Katharine Tynan Books

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