Analysis of After This The Judgement



As eager homebound traveller to the goal,
Or steadfast seeker on an unsearched main,
Or martyr panting for an aureole,
My fellow-pilgrims pass me, and attain
That hidden mansion of perpetual peace
Where keen desire and hope dwell free from pain:
That gate stands open of perennial ease;
I view the glory till I partly long,
Yet lack the fire of love which quickens these.
O passing Angel, speed me with a song,
A melody of heaven to reach my heart
And rouse me to the race and make me strong;
Till in such music I take up my part
Swelling those Hallelujahs full of rest,
One, tenfold, hundredfold, with heavenly art,
Fulfilling north and south and east and west,
Thousand, ten thousandfold, innumerable,
All blent in one yet each one manifest;
Each one distinguished and beloved as well
As if no second voice in earth or heaven
Were lifted up the Love of God to tell.
Ah, Love of God, which Thine own Self hast given
To me most poor, and made me rich in love,
Love that dost pass the tenfold seven times seven,
Draw Thou mine eyes, draw Thou my heart above,
My treasure ad my heart store Thou in Thee,
Brood over me with yearnings of a dove;
Be Husband, Brother, closest Friend to me;
Love me as very mother loves her son,
Her sucking firstborn fondled on her knee:
Yea, more than mother loves her little one;
For, earthly, even a mother may forget
And feel no pity for its piteous moan;
But thou, O Love of God, remember yet,
Through the dry desert, through the waterflood
(Life, death) until the Great White Throne is set.
If now I am sick in chewing the bitter cud
Of sweet past sin, though solaced by Thy grace
And ofttimes strengthened by Thy Flesh and Blood,
How shall I then stand up before Thy face
When from Thine eyes repentance shall be hid
And utmost Justice stand in Mercy's place:
When every sin I thought or spoke or did
Shall meet me at the inexorable bar,
And there be no man standing in the mid
To plead for me; while star fallen after star
With heaven and earth are like a ripened shock,
And all time's mighty works and wonders are
Consumed as in a moment; when no rock
Remains to fall on me, no tree to hide,
But I stand all creation's gazing-stock
Exposed and comfortless on every side,
Placed trembling in the final balances
Whose poise this hour, this moment, must be tried?—
Ah Love of God, if greater love than this
Hath no man, that a man die for his friend,
And if such love of love Thine Own Love is,
Plead with Thyself, with me, before the end;
Redeem me from the irrevocable past;
Pitch Thou Thy Presence round me to defend;
Yea seek with pierced feet, yea hold me fast
With pierced hands whose wounds were made by love;
Not what I am, remember what Thou wast
When darkness hid from Thee Thy heavens above,
And sin Thy Father's Face, while thou didst drink
The bitter cup of death, didst taste thereof
For every man; while Thou wast nigh to sink
Beneath the intense intolerable rod,
Grown sick of love; not what I am, but think
Thy Life then ransomed mine, my God, my God.


Scheme ABABCBDEDEFEFGFGHGIJIJKJKLKLJLJMNMFMFOPOQOQRQRSRSTSTUTVWXWYWYKFKZKZ1 Z1
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 1101100101 11101111 1101011100 1101011001 11010101001 11010011111 11110101001 1101011101 11010111101 1101011101 01001101111 0111010111 1011011111 1011111 11111001 0101010101 101101000 110111110 1101000111 11110101110 0101011111 11111111110 1111011101 11110110110 1111111101 1101111101 1101110101 1101010111 1111010101 0101110101 1111010101 11010010101 011101111 1111110101 10110101 1101011111 111110100101 111111111 011011101 1111110111 1111010111 01101011 11001111111 1111010001 0111110001 11111110101 11001110101 0111010101 0110010111 0111111111 11111101 010111001 11000010100 11110110111 1111110111 1111011111 0111111111 111110101 01110010001 1111011101 111111111 111110111 1111010111 11011111001 0111011111 010111111 11001111111 01001010001 1111111111 111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,949
Words 565
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 70
Lines Amount 70
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 2,350
Words per stanza (avg) 562
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:50 min read
148

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote various romantic, devotional, and children's poems. "Goblin Market" and "Remember" remain famous. She wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", set by Harold Darke and by other composers. more…

All Christina Georgina Rossetti poems | Christina Georgina Rossetti Books

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