Analysis of Stanzas Subjoined To The Yearly Bill Of Mortality Of The Parish Of All-Saints, Northampton. Anno Domini 1793

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



He lives who lives to God alone,
And all are dead beside;
For other source than God is none
Whence life can be supplied.

To live to God is to requite
His love as best we may;
To make his precepts our delight,
His promises our stay.

But lite, within a narrow ring
Of giddy joys comprised,
Is falsely named, and no such thing,
But rather death disguised.

Can life in them deserve the name,
Who only live to prove
For what poor toys they can disclaim
An endless life above?

Who, much diseased, yet nothing feel;
Much menaced, nothing dread;
Have wounds which only God can heal,
Yet never ask his aid?

Who deem his house a useless place,
Faith, want of common sense;
And ardour in the Christian race,
A hypocrite's pretence?

Who trample order; and the day
Which God asserts his own
Dishonour with unhallowed play,
And worship chance alone?

If scorn of God's commands, impressed
On word and deed, imply
The better part of man unblessed
With life that cannot die;

Such want it, and that want, uncured
Till man resigns his breath,
Speaks him a criminal, assured
Of everlasting death.

Sad period to a pleasant course!
Yet so will God repay
Sabbaths profaned without remorse
And mercy cast away.


Scheme ABXB BCXC DEDE FXFX GXGX HXHH CACA XIBI XJXJ KCKC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Etheree  (28%)
Metre 11111101 011101 11011111 111101 1111111 111111 11111001 1100101 11010101 110101 11010111 110101 11010101 110111 11111101 110101 11011101 110101 11110111 110111 11110101 111101 0100101 011 11010001 110111 1111 010101 11110101 110101 0101111 111101 1110111 110111 11010001 10101 110010101 111101 1010101 010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,163
Words 216
Sentences 11
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:05 min read
69

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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    "Stanzas Subjoined To The Yearly Bill Of Mortality Of The Parish Of All-Saints, Northampton. Anno Domini 1793" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40114/stanzas-subjoined-to-the-yearly-bill-of-mortality-of-the-parish-of-all-saints%2C-northampton.-anno-domini-1793>.

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