Analysis of How Samson Bore Away the Gates of Gaza
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
(A Negro Sermon.)
Once, in a night as black as ink,
She drove him out when he would not drink.
Round the house there were men in wait
Asleep in rows by the Gaza gate.
But the Holy Spirit was in this man.
Like a gentle wind he crept and ran.
("It is midnight," said the big town clock.)
He lifted the gates up, post and lock.
The hole in the wall was high and wide
When he bore away old Gaza's pride
Into the deep of the night: —
The bold Jack Johnson Israelite, —
Samson —
The Judge,
The Nazarite.
The air was black, like the smoke of a dragon.
Samson's heart was as big as a wagon.
He sang like a shining golden fountain.
He sweated up to the top of the mountain.
He threw down the gates with a noise like judgment.
And the quails all ran with the big arousement.
But he wept — "I must not love tough queens,
And spend on them my hard earned means.
I told that girl I would drink no more.
Therefore she drove me from her door.
Oh sorrow!
Sorrow!
I cannot hide.
Oh Lord look down from your chariot side.
You made me Judge, and I am not wise.
I am weak as a sheep for all my size."
Let Samson
Be coming
Into your mind.
The moon shone out, the stars were gay.
He saw the foxes run and play.
He rent his garments, he rolled around
In deep repentance on the ground.
Then he felt a honey in his soul.
Grace abounding made him whole.
Then he saw the Lord in a chariot blue.
The gorgeous stallions whinnied and flew.
The iron wheels hummed an old hymn-tune
And crunched in thunder over the moon.
And Samson shouted to the sky:
"My Lord, my Lord is riding high."
Like a steed, he pawed the gates with his hoof.
He rattled the gates like rocks on the roof,
And danced in the night
On the mountain-top,
Danced in the deep of the night:
The Judge, the holy Nazarite,
Whom ropes and chains could never bind.
Let Samson
Be coming
Into your mind.
Whirling his arms, like a top he sped.
His long black hair flew round his head
Like an outstretched net of silky cord,
Like a wheel of the chariot of the Lord.
Let Samson
Be coming
Into your mind.
Samson saw the sun anew.
He left the gates in the grass and dew.
He went to a county-seat a-nigh.
Found a harlot proud and high:
Philistine that no man could tame —
Delilah was her lady-name.
Oh sorrow,
Sorrow,
She was too wise.
She cut off his hair,
She put out his eyes.
Let Samson
Be coming
Into your mind.
Scheme | a bbccdde effggaxc aaaaxc hhiiJJffkk ALM nnoo ppqqrrss ttgxgcm ALM uuvv ALM qqsswwJJkxk ALM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010 10011111 111111111 10110101 010110101 1010101011 101011101 11110111 110011101 010011101 111011101 0101101 0111010 10 01 01 01111011010 111111010 1110101010 11011011010 11101101110 001111011 111111111 01111111 111111111 1111101 110 10 1101 1111111001 111101111 1111011111 110 110 0111 01110101 11010101 111101101 01010101 111010011 1010111 11101001001 01010101 010111111 010101001 01010101 11111101 1011101111 1100111101 01001 10101 1001101 010101 11011101 110 110 0111 101110111 11111111 110111101 10110100101 110 110 0111 1010101 110100101 111010101 1010101 1011111 01010101 110 10 1111 11111 11111 110 110 0111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,288 |
Words | 472 |
Sentences | 47 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 7, 8, 6, 10, 3, 4, 8, 7, 3, 4, 3, 11, 3 |
Lines Amount | 78 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:21 min read
- 96 Views
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"How Samson Bore Away the Gates of Gaza" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37296/how-samson-bore-away-the-gates-of-gaza>.
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