Prayers
God who created meNimble and light of limb,In three elements free,To run, to ride, to swim:Not when the sense is dim,But now from the heart of joy,I would remember Him:Take the thanks of a boy.
Jesu, King and Lord,Whose are my foes to fight,Gird me with Thy swordSwift and sharp and bright.Thee would I serve if I might;And conquer if I can,From day-dawn till night,Take the strength of a man.
Spirit of Love and Truth,Breathing in grosser clay,The light and flame of youth,Delight of men in the fray,Wisdom in strength’s decay;From pain, strife, wrong to be free,This best gift I pray,Take my spirit to Thee.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prayers is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Charles Beeching, Prayers, in Poems (1859–1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-henry-charles-beeching/prayers.html, id L16276.
Form and metre
Prayers is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBC. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABBCBC meA · limbB · freeA · swimB · dimB · joyC · himB · boyC
- 2 ABABBCBC lordA · fightB · swordA · brightB · mightB · canC · nightB · manC
- 3 ABABBCBC truthA · clayB · youthA · frayB · decayB · freeC · prayB · theeC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| God who created me | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Nimble and light of limb, | 6 | /˘···· |
| In three elements free, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| To run, to ride, to swim: | 6 | ······ |
| Not when the sense is dim, | 6 | ······ |
| But now from the heart of joy, | 7 | ······· |
| I would remember Him: | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Take the thanks of a boy. | 6 | ······ |
| Jesu, King and Lord, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Whose are my foes to fight, | 6 | ······ |
| Gird me with Thy sword | 5 | ····· |
| Swift and sharp and bright. | 5 | ····· |
| Thee would I serve if I might; | 7 | ······· |
| And conquer if I can, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From day-dawn till night, | 5 | ····· |
| Take the strength of a man. | 6 | ······ |
| Spirit of Love and Truth, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Breathing in grosser clay, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| The light and flame of youth, | 6 | ······ |
| Delight of men in the fray, | 7 | ˘/····· |
| Wisdom in strength’s decay; | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| From pain, strife, wrong to be free, | 7 | ······· |
| This best gift I pray, | 5 | ····· |
| Take my spirit to Thee. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.