Analysis of Divine Love Endures No Rival
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Love is the Lord whom I obey,
Whose will transported I perform;
The centre of my rest, my stay,
Love's all in all to me, myself a worm.
For uncreated charms I burn,
Oppressed by slavish fear no more,
For One in whom I may discern,
E'en when he frowns, a sweetness I adore.
He little loves him who complains,
And finds him rigorous and severe;
His heart is sordid, and he feigns,
Though loud in boasting of a soul sincere.
Love causes grief, but 'tis to move
And stimulate the slumbering mind;
And he has never tasted love
Who shuns a plan so graciously designed.
Sweet is the cross, above all sweets,
To souls enamoured with thy smiles;
The keenest woe life ever meets,
Love strips of all its terrors, and beguiles.
'Tis just that God should not be dear
Where self engrosses all the thought,
And groans and murmurs make it clear,
Whatever else is loved, the Lord is not.
The love of thee flows just as much
As that of ebbing self subsides;
Our hearts, their scantiness is such,
Bear not the conflict of two rival tides.
Both cannot govern in one soul;
Then let self–love be dispossessed;
The love of God deserves the whole,
And will not dwell with so despised a guest.
Scheme | AXAX BCBC DEDE XFXF GXGD EXEX HIHI JKJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 11011101 11010101 01011111 110111101 11111 01110111 11011101 11111010101 11011101 011100001 11110011 1101010101 11011111 01001001 01110101 1101110001 11010111 111111 01011101 111111001 11111111 111101 01010111 101110111 01111111 11110101 101110011 1101011101 11010011 1111101 01110101 0111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,147 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 103 Views
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"Divine Love Endures No Rival" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39833/divine-love-endures-no-rival>.
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