Analysis of Love Increased By Suffering
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
'I love the Lord,' is still the strain
This heart delights to sing:
But I reply--your thoughts are vain,
Perhaps 'tis no such thing.
Before the power of love divine
Creation fades away;
Till only God is seen to shine
In all that we survey.
In gulfs of awful night we find
The God of our desires;
'Tis there he stamps the yielding mind,
And doubles all its fires.
Flames of encircling love invest,
And pierce it sweetly through;
'Tis filled with sacred joy, yet pressed
With sacred sorrow too.
Ah love! my heart is in the right--
Amidst a thousand woes,
To thee, its ever new delight,
And all its peace it owes.
Fresh causes of distress occur
Where'er I look or move;
The comforts I to all prefer
Are solitude and love.
Nor exile I nor prison fear;
Love makes my courage great;
I find a Saviour every where,
His grace in every state.
Nor castle walls, nor dungeons deep,
Exclude his quickening beams;
There I can sit, and sing, and weep,
And dwell on heavenly themes.
There sorrow, for his sake, is found
A joy beyond compare;
There no presumptuous thoughts abound,
No pride can enter there.
A Saviour doubles all my joys,
And sweetens all my pains,
His strength in my defence employs,
Consoles me and sustains.
I fear no ill, resent no wrong;
Nor feel a passion move,
When malice whets her slanderous tongue;
Such patience is in love.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKM XNON PQPQ RORO STST XLXM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (82%) |
Metre | 11011101 110111 11011111 011111 010101101 010101 11011111 011101 01110111 01110010 11110101 0101110 110100101 011101 11110111 110101 11111001 010101 11110101 011111 11010101 101111 01011101 11001 1111101 111101 11011001 1101001 11011101 0111001 11110101 0111001 11011111 010101 110100101 111101 0110111 010111 11010101 011001 11110111 110101 110101001 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,300 |
Words | 247 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 94 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 79 Views
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"Love Increased By Suffering" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39919/love-increased-by-suffering>.
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