Analysis of Olney Hymn 20: Old Testament Gospel
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Israel in ancient days
Not only had a view
Of Sinai in a blaze,
But learn'd the Gospel too;
The types and figures were a glass,
In which thy saw a Saviour's face.
The paschal sacrifice
And blood-besprinkled door,
Seen with enlighten'd eyes,
And once applied with power,
Would teach the need of other blood,
To reconcile an angry God.
The Lamb, the Dove, set forth
His perfect innocence,
Whose blood of matchless worth
Whould be the soul's defence;
For he who can for sin atone,
Must have no failings of His own.
The scape-goat on his head
The people's trespass bore,
And to the desert led,
Was to be seen no more:
In him our surety seem'd to say,
'Behold, I bear your sins away.'
Dipt in his fellow's blood,
The living bird went free;
The type, well understood,
Express'd the sinner's plea;
Described a guilty soul enlarged,
And by a Saviour's death discharged.
Jesus, I love to trace,
Throughout the sacred page,
The footsteps of Thy grace,
The same in every age!
Oh, grant that I may faithful be
To clearer light vouchsafed to me!
Scheme | ABABXC XDXXEX XXXXFF GDGDHH EIXIJJ CKCKII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1000101 110101 11001 110101 01010001 0111011 01010 0111 110101 0101110 11011101 1101101 010111 101100 11111 110101 11111101 11110111 011111 01011 010101 111111 0110100111 01111101 101101 010111 01101 01011 01010101 0101101 101111 010101 01111 0101001 11111101 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,040 |
Words | 190 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 110 Views
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"Olney Hymn 20: Old Testament Gospel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39949/olney-hymn-20%3A-old-testament-gospel>.
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