Analysis of Temperance Hymn

John Pierpont 1785 (Litchfield) – 1866 (Medford)



God of our fathers! Thee we praise;
To-day, our grateful thanks ascend:
Accept these thanks-our cheerful lays
With organ's solemn chantings blend.

Thy grace the wretched drunkard found
Cast out, and weltering in his blood;
Now from his tongue doth praise resound-
He owes that praise to thee, O God!

Restored to virtue by thy hand,
The father, brother, son, arise;
From sin and wo reclaimed, they stand,
And swell thy praise with tearful eyes.

The mother, sister, daughter, too,
With tears of gratitude and praise,
Behold the change, and now, anew,
Receive their friends to their embrace.

No longer poverty and shame-
A sad inheritance-are theirs;
Their altered looks aloud proclaim
A happy change in their affairs.

Thanks, thanks, to thee, O God, we give!
What better tribute can we pay?
'T is on thy bounties that we live;-
We praise thee for this festal day!


Scheme ABAB CXCX DEDE FAFX GHGH XIXI
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 111010111 111010101 011110101 111011 11010101 1101011 1111111 11111111 01110111 01010101 11010111 01111101 01010101 1111001 01010101 01111101 11010001 01010011 11010101 01010101 11111111 11010111 111110111 1111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 846
Words 150
Sentences 10
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 112
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
67

John Pierpont

John Pierpont was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His most famous poem is The Airs of Palestine. more…

All John Pierpont poems | John Pierpont Books

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