Analysis of A Prayer

Archibald Lampman 1861 (Upper Canada) – 1899 (Ottawa, Canada)



Oh earth, oh dewy mother, breathe on us
Something of all thy beauty and thy might,
Us that are part of day, but most of night,
Not strong like thee, but ever burdened thus
With glooms and cares, things pale and dolorous
Whose gladest moments are not wholly bright;
Something of all they freshness and thy light,
Oh earth, oh mighty mother, breathe on us.

Oh mother, who wast long before our day,
And after us full many an age shalt be.
Careworn and blind, we wander from thy way:
Born of thy strength, yet weak and halt are we
Grant us, oh mother, therefore, us who pray,
Some little of thy light and majesty.


Scheme ABBAABBA CDCDCD
Poetic Form Petrarchan sonnet 
Metre 1111010111 1011110011 1111111111 1111110101 11011101 111011101 1011110011 1111010111 11011101101 01011101111 101110111 1111110111 111101111 1101110100
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 604
Words 117
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 236
Words per stanza (avg) 58
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 27, 2023

35 sec read
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Archibald Lampman

Archibald Lampman FRSC was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. more…

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