Analysis of A Feigned Remorse
David Plantinga 1972 (Sherbrooke)
You’re crying out against your sin
Because you’re standing on the shore
Aware your guilt is so much more
Than your acknowledged ramekin.
An ocean of iniquity
Extends to the horizon’s edge,
Farther than shamming can allege,
Deeper than faked hyperbole.
Frightened, you’re dipped a ladle in
And drawn a spoonful from that sea
Unwashed, that liquid is your plea,
Sin-spattered, it’s your lanolin.
Propitiating by the less
You take a slighter punishment
And by your groveling prevent
The consequence of sinfulness.
That inundation you so fear,
And try to duck by feigned remorse,
By screeching curses till you’re hoarse,
Accumulates from every tear
The truly penitent have wept.
The measure of your filth exceeds
The dust and ash of ranted screeds.
But look, your pathway back is swept!
The Lord has fathomed the abyssal
Where your iniquity has pooled,
And all-forgiving, He has ruled
Sincere acceptance is dismissal.
When you admit what you done
The shame and anguish of the sting
Hurts more than present suffering,
But bitter, that confession’s won
Forgiveness. All your blemishes
Are cleansed; the tainted becomes pure
In innocence that will endure.
Grace pardons when it punishes.
Scheme | ABBACDDCACCEFGHFIJJKLMFLNOONEPPEQRRS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 01110101 01111111 110101 11010100 01100101 1011101 1011010 10110100 0101111 01110111 11011100 1101 1101100 01110001 010011 1010111 01111101 11010111 01011001 01010011 01011101 01011101 1111111 011101 11010011 01010111 010101010 1101111 01010101 11110100 11010101 01011100 11010011 01001101 11011100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,239 |
Words | 224 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 954 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 193 |
About this poem
Zophar finds Job's penitence insufficient.
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"A Feigned Remorse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/130297/a-feigned-remorse>.
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