Analysis of The Acquiescence Of Pure Love

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



Love! if thy destined sacrifice am I,
Come, slay thy victim, and prepare thy fires;
Plunged in thy depths of mercy, let me die
The death which every soul that lives desires!

I watch my hours, and see them fleet away;
The time is long that I have languished here;
Yet all my thoughts thy purposes obey,
With no reluctance, cheerful and sincere.

To me 'tis equal, whether love ordain
My life or death, appoint me pain or ease;
My soul perceives no real ill in pain;
In ease or health no real good she sees.

One good she covets, and that good alone,
To choose thy will, from selfish bias free;
And to prefer a cottage to a throne,
And grief to comfort, if it pleases thee.

That we should bear the cross is thy command,
Die to the world and live to self no more;
Suffer, unmoved, beneath the rudest hand,
As pleased when shipwrecked as when safe on shore.


Scheme ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG HIHI
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 111101011 11110001110 1011110111 011100111010 11110011101 0111111101 1111110001 1101010001 1111010101 1111011111 110111101 011111111 1111001101 1111110101 0101010101 0111011101 1111011101 1101011111 1001010101 111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 840
Words 164
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 132
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
91

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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    Because I could not stop for _______ - He kindly stopped for me
    A Hope
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