Analysis of A Thank-Offering
Ella Higginson 1862 – 1940
Lord God, the winter has been sweet and brief
In this fair land;
For us the budded willow and the leaf,
The peaceful strand.
For us the silver nights and golden days,
The violet mist;
The pearly clouds pierced with vibrating rays
Of amethyst.
At evening, every wave of our blue sea
Hollowed to hold
A fragment of the sunset’s mystery—
A fleck of gold.
The crimson haze is on the alder trees
In places lush;
Already sings with sweet and lyric ease
The western thrush.
Lord God, for some of us the days and years
Have bitter been;
For some of us the burden and the tears,
The gnawing sin.
For some of us, O God, the scanty store,
The failing bin;
For some of us the gray wolf at the door,
The red, within!
But to the hungry Thou hast given meat,
Hast clothed the cold;
And Thou hast given courage strong and sweet
To the sad and old.
And so we thank Thee, Thou most tender God,
For the leaf and flower;
For the tempered winds, and quickening, velvet sod,
And the gracious shower.
Yea, generous God, we thank Thee for this land
Where all are fed,
Where at the doors no freezing beggars stand,
Pleading for bread.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH XIXI JIJI KFKF LMLM BNBN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101011101 0111 11011001 0101 1101010101 01001 0101111001 1100 110100111011 1011 010101100 0111 0101110101 0101 0101110101 0101 1111110101 1101 1111010001 0101 1111110101 0101 1111011101 0101 1101011101 1101 0111010101 10101 0111111101 101010 101010100101 001010 11001111111 1111 1101110101 1011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,168 |
Words | 211 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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"A Thank-Offering" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/54067/a-thank-offering>.
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