Analysis of Olney Hymn 34: The Waiting Soul

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



Breathe from the gentle south, O Lord,
And cheer me from the north;
Blow on the treasures of thy word,
And call the spices forth!

I wish, Thou knowest, to be resign'd,
And wait with patient hope;
But hope delay'd fatigues the mind,
And drinks the spirits up.

Help me to reach the distant goal;
Confirm my feeble knee;
Pity the sickness of a soul
That faints for love of Thee!

Cold as I feel this heart of mine,
Yet, since I feel it so,
It yields some hope of life divine
Within, however low.

I seem forsaken and alone,
I hear the lion roar;
And every door is shut but one,
And that is Mercy's door.

There, till the dear Deliverer come,
I'll wait with humble prayer;
And when He calls His exile home,
The Lord shall find him there.


Scheme XAXA BXBX CDCD EFEF XGXG XHXH
Poetic Form Quatrain  (83%)
Metre 11010111 011101 11010111 010101 11111101 011101 11010101 010101 11110101 011101 10010101 111111 11111111 111111 11111101 01101 11010001 110101 010011111 01111 110101001 111101 0111111 011111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 738
Words 143
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
140

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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