Analysis of Here Follow Several Occasional Meditations

Anne Bradstreet 1612 (Northampton) – 1672 (Andover)



By night when others soundly slept,
And had at once both case and rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

I sought Him whom my soul did love,
With tears I sought Him earnestly;
He bowed His ear down from above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry soul He filled with good,
He in His bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washed in His blood,
And banished thence my doubts and fears.

What to my Savior shall I give,
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve Him here whilst I shall live
And love Him to eternity.


Scheme ABAB CDCX XXXX XDXD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 11110101 01111101 11010101 01111111 11111111 11111100 11111101 01111111 11011111 10110111 11011011 01011101 11110111 11011111 11111111 01110100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 553
Words 114
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 106
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
91

Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was the first poet and first female writer in the British North American colonies to be published. more…

All Anne Bradstreet poems | Anne Bradstreet Books

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