Analysis of Help Lord



Help Lord, for godly men have took their flight,
And left the earth to be the wicked's den:
Not one that standeth fast to Truth and Right,
But fears, or seeks to please, the eyes of men.
When one with other fall's to take apart,
Their meaning goeth not with their words in proof;
But fair they flatter, with a cloven heart,
By pleasing words, to work their own behoof.

But God cut off the lips, that are all set,
To trap the harmless soul, that peace hath vow'd;
And pierce the tongues, that seek to counterfeit
The confidence of truth, by lying loud:
Yet so they think to reign, and work their will,
By subtle speech, which enters every where:
And say, our tongues are ours, to help us still,
What need we any higher power to fear?

Now for the bitter sighing of the poor,
The lord hath said, I will no more forbear,
The wicked's kingdom to invade and scour,
And set at large the men restrain'd in fear.
And sure, the word of God is pure, and fine.
And in the trial never loseth weight;
Like noble gold, which, since it left the mine,
Hath seven times passed through the fiery straight.

And now thou wilt not first thy word forsake,
Nor yet the righteous man, that leans thereto;
But will't his safe protection undertake,
In spite of all, their force and wiles can do.
And time it is, O Lord, thou didst draw nigh,
The wicked daily do enlarge their bands;
And that, which makes them follow ill a vie,
Rule is betaken to unworthy hands.


Scheme ABABCDCD XEXEFGFH XGXHIJIJ KAKXLMLM
Poetic Form
Metre 1111011111 010111011 111111101 1111110111 1111011101 1101111101 111101011 110111111 1111011111 1101011111 010111110 0100111101 1111110111 11011101001 011011101111 11110101011 1101010101 011111111 0110101010 0111010101 0101111101 000101011 1101111101 11011101001 0111111101 110101111 1111101010 0111110111 0111111111 0101010111 0111110101 11110101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,412
Words 273
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 276
Words per stanza (avg) 68
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:23 min read
117

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