Analysis of Johannes Agricola In Meditation
There's heaven above, and night by night
I look right through its gorgeous roof;
No suns and moons though e'er so bright
Avail to stop me; splendor-proof
I keep the broods of stars aloof:
For I intend to get to God,
For 't is to God I speed so fast,
For in God's breast, my own abode,
Those shoals of dazzling glory, passed,
I lay my spirit down at last.
I lie where I have always lain,
God smiles as he has always smiled;
Ere suns and moons could wax and wane,
Ere stars were thundergirt, or piled
The heavens, God thought on me his child;
Ordained a life for me, arrayed
Its circumstances every one
To the minutest; ay, God said
This head this hand should rest upon
Thus, ere he fashioned star or sun.
And having thus created me,
Thus rooted me, he bade me grow,
Guiltless forever, like a tree
That buds and blooms, nor seeks to know
The law by which it prospers so:
But sure that thought and word and deed
All go to swell his love for me,
Me, made because that love had need
Of something irreversibly
Pledged solely its content to be.
Yes, yes, a tree which must ascend,
No poison-gourd foredoomed to stoop!
I have God's warrant, could I blend
All hideous sins, as in a cup,
To drink the mingled venoms up;
Secure my nature will convert
The draught to blossoming gladness fast:
While sweet dews turn to the gourd's hurt,
And bloat, and while they bloat it, blast,
As from the first its lot was cast.
For as I lie, smiled on, full-fed
By unexhausted power to bless,
I gaze below on hell's fierce bed,
And those its waves of flame oppress,
Swarming in ghastly wretchedness;
Whose life on earth aspired to be
One altar-smoke, so pure! to win
If not love like God's love for me,
At least to keep his anger in;
And all their striving turned to sin.
Priest, doctor, hermit, monk grown white
With prayer, the broken-hearted nun,
The martyr, the wan acolyte,
The incense-swinging child undone
Before God fashioned star or sun!
God, whom I praise; how could I praise,
If such as I might understand,
Make out and reckon on his ways,
And bargain for his love, and stand,
Paying a price, at his right hand?
Scheme | ABABBCDEDDFGFGGHIJKILMLMMNLNLLOPOQQRDRDDJSJSSLTLTTAIAIIUVUVV |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 110010111 11111101 110111011 01111101 11011101 11011111 111111111 10111101 111100101 11110111 1111111 1111111 11011101 110111 010111111 01011101 11001001 101111 11111101 11110111 01010101 11011111 10010101 11011111 01111101 11110101 11111111 11011111 1100100 110011011 11011101 1101111 11110111 110011001 1101011 01110110 01110011 11111011 01011111 11011111 11111111 111011 11011111 01111101 100101 11110111 11011111 11111111 11111100 01110111 11010111 11010101 0100110 00110101 01110111 11111111 1111101 11010111 01011101 10011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,041 |
Words | 393 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 60 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,618 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 396 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 89 Views
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"Johannes Agricola In Meditation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56490/johannes-agricola-in-meditation>.
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