Analysis of Inasmuch As Ye Did It Not . . .
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
If Jesus came to London,
Came to London to-day,
He would not go to the West End,
He would come down our way;
He'd talk with the children dancing
To the organ out in the street,
And say he was their big Brother,
And give them something to eat.
He wouldn't go to the mansions
Where the charitable live;
He'd come to the tenement houses
Where we ain't got nothing to give.
He'd come so kind and so homely,
And treat us to beer and bread,
And tell us how we ought to behave;
And we'd try to mind what He said.
In the warm bright West End churches
They sing and preach and pray,
They call us 'Beloved brethren,'
But they do not act that way.
And when He came to the church door
He'd call out loud and free,
You stop that preaching and praying
And show what you've done for Me.'
Then they'd say, 'O Lord, we have given
To the poor both blankets and tracts,
And we've tried to make them sober,
And we've tried to teach them facts.
But they will sneak round to the drink-shop,
And pawn the blankets for beer,
And we find them very ungrateful,
But still we persevere.'
Then He would say, 'I told you
The time I was here before,
That you were all of you brothers,
All you that I suffered for.
I won't go into your churches,
I'll stop in the sun outside.
You bring out the men your brothers,
The men for whom I died!'
Out of our beastly lodgings,
From arches and doorways about,
They'd have to do as He told them,
They'd have to call us out.
Millions and millions and millions,
Thick and crawling like flies,
We should creep out to the sunshine
And not be afraid of His eyes.
He'd see what God's image looks like
When men have dealt with the same,
Wrinkled with work that is never done,
Swollen and dirty with shame.
He'd see on the children's forehead
The branded gutter-sign
That marks the girls to be harlots,
That dooms the boys to be swine.
Then He'd say, 'What's the good of churches
When these have nowhere to sleep?
And how can I hear you praying
When they are cursing so deep?
I gave My Blood and My Body
That they might have bread and wine,
And you have taken your share and theirs
Of these good gifts of mine!'
Then some of the rich would be sorry,
And all would be very scared,
And they'd say, 'But we never knew, Lord!'
And He'd say, 'You never cared!'
And some would be sick and shameful
Because they'd know that they knew,
And the best would say, 'We were wrong, Lord.
Now tell us what to do!'
I think He'd be sitting, likely,
For someone 'ud bring Him a chair,
With a common kid cuddled up on His knee
And the common sun on His hair;
And they'd be standing before Him,
And He'd say, 'You know that you knew.
Why haven't you worked for your brothers
The same as I worked for you?
'For since you're all of you brothers
It's clear as God's blessed sun
That each must work for the others,
Not thousands work for one.
And the ones that have lived bone-idle
If they want Me to hear them pray,
Let them go and work for their livings
The only honest way!
'I've got nothing new to tell you,
You know what I always said -
But you've built their bones into churches
And stolen their wine and bread;
You with My Name on your foreheads,
Liar, and traitor, and knave,
You have lived by the death of your brothers,
These whom I died to save!'
I wish He would come and say it;
Perhaps they'd believe it then,
And work like men for their livings
And let us work like men.
Brothers? They don't believe it,
The lie on their lips is red.
They'll never believe till He comes again,
Or till we rise from the dead!
Scheme | ABXBCDED FXGXHIJI GBABKHCH ALELXMNM OKPKGQPQ RSXSFTUT XVAVIUFU GWCWHUXU HXYXNOYO HZHZXOPO PAPANBRB OIGIXJPJ 1 2 R2 1 I2 I |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110 111011 11111011 1111101 11101010 10101001 01111110 0111011 11011010 1010001 111010010 11111011 11110110 0111101 011111101 01111111 00111110 110101 1110110 1111111 01111011 111101 11110010 0111111 111111110 10111001 01111110 0111111 111111011 0101011 011110010 111001 1111111 0111101 11011110 1111101 11101110 1100111 11101110 011111 1110110 1100101 11111111 111111 10010010 101011 1111101 01101111 11111011 1111101 101111101 1001011 11101010 010101 1101111 1101111 111101110 111111 01111110 1111011 11110110 1111101 011101101 111111 111011110 0111101 011111011 0111101 01111010 0111111 001111011 111111 11111010 1111101 10101101111 00101111 01110011 01111111 110111110 0111111 11111110 111111 11111010 110111 001111110 11111111 111011110 010101 11101111 111111 111110110 0101101 1111111 1001001 1111011110 111111 11111011 0110111 01111110 011111 1011011 0111111 1100111101 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,401 |
Words | 692 |
Sentences | 31 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 104 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 205 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:35 min read
- 142 Views
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"Inasmuch As Ye Did It Not . . ." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8847/inasmuch-as-ye-did-it-not-.-.-.>.
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