Analysis of The Parable of the Young Man and the Old

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned, both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake, and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets the trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.


Scheme ABCCDEFGHHIJKLHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1011010101 0101011001 0111111010 10011101110 01001010010 1101111100 1011011101 0110101 011011111 11110111110 1011110101 101101101 0110010111 1001110111 10111111111 0101110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 683
Words 133
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 529
Words per stanza (avg) 131
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

39 sec read
158

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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