Analysis of Where Shall I Find Thee?
Yehudah HaLevi 1075 (Spain) – 1141 (Holy Land)
O Lord, where shall I find Thee?
All-hidden and exalted is Thy place;
And where shall I not find Thee?
Full of Thy glory is the infinite space.
Found near-abiding ever,
He made the earth’s ends, set their utmost bar;
Unto the nigh a refuge,
Yea, and a trust to them who wait afar.
Thou sittest throned between the Cherubim,
Thou dwellest high above the cloud rack dim.
Praised by Thine hosts and yet beyond their praises
Forever far exalt;
The endless whirl of worlds may not contain Thee,
How, then, one heaven’s vault?
And Thou, withal uplifted
O’er man, upon a mighty throne apart,
Art yet forever near him,
Breath of his spirit, life-blood of his heart.
His own mouth speaketh testimony true
That Thou his Maker art alone; for who
Shall say he hath not seen Thee? Lo! the heavens
And all their host aflame
With glory show Thy fear in speech unuttered,
With silent voice proclaim.
Longing I sought Thy presence,
Lord, with my whole heart did I call and pray,
And going out toward Thee,
I found Thee coming to me on the way;
Yea, in Thy wonders’ might as clear to see
As when within the shrine I looked for Thee.
Who shall not fear Thee? Lo! upon their shoulders
Thy yoke divinely dread!
Who shall forbear to cry to Thee, That givest
To all their daily bread?
And can the Lord God truly—
God, the Most High—dwell here within man’s breast?
What shall he answer, pondering—
Man, whose foundations in the dust do rest?
For Thou art holy, dwelling ‘mid the praise
Of them that waft Thee worship all their days.
Angels adoring, singing of Thy wonder,
Stand upon Heaven’s height;
And Thou, enthroned o’erhead, all things upholdest
With everlasting might.
Translated by Nina Davis
Scheme | ABAB CDXDEEXFAF XGEGHHXEFE XIAIAAXJFJ AKXKLLCMFM X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111111 1100010111 0111111 11110101001 1101010 110111111 1001010 1001111101 1110101 111010111 11110101110 010101 01011111011 111101 011100 1101010101 1101011 1111011111 11111001 1111010111 11111111010 011101 110111011 110101 1011110 1111111101 0101011 1111011101 1011011111 1101011111 11111101110 110101 111111111 111101 0101110 1011110111 11110100 1101000111 1111010101 1111110111 10010101110 101101 0111111 10101 01011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,666 |
Words | 303 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 10, 10, 10, 10, 1 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 218 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 112 Views
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"Where Shall I Find Thee?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42542/where-shall-i-find-thee%3F>.
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