Analysis of How Shall I Build
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 1840 (Petworth House) – 1922 (United Kingdom)
How shall I build my temple to the Lord,
Unworthy I, who am thus foul of heart?
How shall I worship who no traitor word
Know but of love to play a suppliant's part?
How shall I pray, whose soul is as a mart,
For thoughts unclean, whose tongue is as a sword
Even for those it loves to wound and smart?
Behold how little I can help Thee, Lord.
The Temple I would build should be all white,
Each stone the record of a blameless day;
The souls that entered there should walk in light,
Clothed in high chastity and wisely gay.
Lord, here is darkness. Yet this heart unwise,
Bruised in Thy service, take in sacrifice.
Scheme | ABXBBABA CDCDXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110101 0101111111 1111011101 111111011 1111111101 1101111101 1011111101 0111011111 0101111111 1100110101 0111011101 1011000101 1111011101 101101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 606 |
Words | 120 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 237 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 45 Views
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"How Shall I Build" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38738/how-shall-i-build>.
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