Analysis of Glory To God Alone
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Oh loved! but not enough--though dearer far
Than self and its most loved enjoyments are;
None duly loves thee, but who, nobly free
From sensual objects, finds his all in thee.
Glory of God! thou stranger here below,
Whom man nor knows, nor feels a wish to know;
Our faith and reason are both shocked to find
Man in the post of honour—Thee behind.
Reason exclaims--'Let every creature fall,
Ashamed, abased, before the Lord of all;'
And faith, o'erwhelmed with such a dazzling blaze,
Feebly describes the beauty she surveys.
Yet man, dim–sighted man, and rash as blind,
Deaf to the dictates of his better mind,
In frantic competition dares the skies,
And claims precedence of the Only wise.
Oh, lost in vanity, till once self–known!
Nothing is great, or good, but God alone;
When thou shalt stand before his awful face,
Then, at the last, thy pride shall know his place.
Glorious, Almighty, First, and without end!
When wilt thou melt the mountains and descend?
When wilt thou shoot abroad thy conquering rays,
And teach these atoms, thou hast made, thy praise?
Thy glory is the sweetest heaven I feel;
And, if I seek it with too fierce a zeal,
Thy love, triumphant o'er a selfish will,
Taught me the passion, and inspires it still.
My reason, all my faculties, unite,
To make thy glory their supreme delight:
Forbid it, fountain of my brightest days,
That I should rob thee, and usurp thy praise!
My soul! rest happy in thy low estate,
Nor hope, nor wish, to be esteemed or great,
To take the impression of a will divine,
Be that thy glory, and those riches thine.
Confess him righteous in his just decrees,
Love what he loves, and let his pleasure please;
Die daily; from the touch of sin recede;
Then thou hast crowned him, and he reigns indeed.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF DDGG HHII JJFF KKLL MMFF NNOO PPQQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111011101 1101110101 1101111101 11001011101 1011110101 1111110111 10101011111 100111101 10011100101 011010111 0111101001 1001010101 1111010111 1100111101 010010101 0110010101 1101001111 1011111101 1111011101 1101111111 10001010011 1111010001 11110111001 0111011111 11010101011 0111111101 11010100101 1101000111 110111001 1111010101 0111011101 111110111 1111001101 1111110111 11001010101 1111001101 0111001101 1111011101 1101011101 1111101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,722 |
Words | 314 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 135 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:34 min read
- 149 Views
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"Glory To God Alone" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39862/glory-to-god-alone>.
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