Analysis of Meditations Divine and Moral
Anne Bradstreet 1612 (Northampton) – 1672 (Andover)
A ship that bears much sail, and little ballast, is easily
overset; and that man, whose head hath great abilities, and his
heart little or no grace, is in danger of foundering.
The finest bread has the least bran; the purest honey, the
least wax; and the sincerest Christian, the least self-love.
Sweet words are like honey; a little may refresh, but too much
gluts the stomach.
Divers children have their different natures: some are like
flesh which nothing but salt will keep from putrefaction; some
again like tender fruits that are best preserved with sugar. Those
parents are wise that can fit their nurture according to their
nature.
Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge,
fitter to bruise than polish.
The reason why Christians are so loath to exchange this world
for a better, is because they have more sense than faith: they see
what they enjoy, they do but hope for that which is to come.
Dim eyes are the concomitants of old age; and short-
sightedness, in those that are the eyes of a Republic, foretells a
declining State.
Wickedness comes to its height by degrees. He that dares say
of a less sin, Is it not a little one? will erelong say of a
greater, Tush, God regards it not.
Fire hath its force abated by water, not by wind; and anger
must be allayed by cold words and not by blustering threats.
The gifts that God bestows on the sons of men, are not only
abused, but most commonly employed for a clean contrary end than
that which they were given for; as health, wealth, and honor, which
might be so many steps to draw men to God in consideration of his
bounty towards them, but have driven them the further from him,
that they are ready to say, We are lords, we will come no more at
thee. If outward blessings be not as wings to help us mount
upwards, they will certainly prove clogs and weights that will pull
us lower downward.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOAIPDQRDSLTAUVBWXYZ1 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011111010101100 10111111010001 11011110101100 01011011010100 11001100111 111110010101111 1010 10101110010111 11101111111 011101111011101 101111111001011 10 010001101101010111 1011110 01011011110111 101010111111111 11011111111111 1110111101 10111011001010 0101 10011111011111 1011111010111110 10110111 10111010110111010 11011110111001 011101101111110 01111000110110011 11101011110101 111101111110001011 100111110101011 1111011111111111 11101011111111 10111001101111 11010 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,880 |
Words | 345 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 34 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 43 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,477 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 343 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 246 Views
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"Meditations Divine and Moral" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3094/meditations-divine-and-moral>.
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