Analysis of Prayer In Time Of War
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
Now Death is near, and very near,
In this wild whirl of horror and fear,
When round the vessel of our State
Roll the great mountain waves of hate.
God! We have but one prayer to-day -
O Father, teach us how to pray.
For prayer is strong, and very strong;
But we have turned from Thee so long
To follow gods that have no power
Save in the safe and sordid hour,
That to Thy feet we have lost the way . . .
O Father, teach us how to pray.
We have done ill, and very ill,
Set up our will against Thy will.
That our soft lives might gorge, full-fed,
We stole our brothers' daily bread.
Lord, we are sorry we went astray -
O Father, teach us how to pray.
Now in this hour of desperate strife
For England's life, her very life,
Teach us to pray that life may be
A new life, beautiful to Thee,
And in Thy hands that life to lay.
O Father, teach us how to pray.
Scheme | aabbcC ddeecC ffggcC hhiicC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 011111001 110101101 10110111 11111111 11011111 11110101 11111111 110111110 100101010 111111101 11011111 11110101 111010111 110111111 111010101 111101101 11011111 101101101 11010101 11111111 01110011 00111111 11011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 837 |
Words | 175 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 75 Views
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"Prayer In Time Of War" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8888/prayer-in-time-of-war>.
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