On the Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer. Written by Mrs Wharton
Silence, you winds! listen, ethereal lights!While our Urania sings what Heaven indites;The numbers are the nymph's; but from aboveDescends the pledge of that eternal love.Here wretched mortals have not leave alone,But are instructed to approach His throne;And how can He to miserable menDeny requests which His own hand did pen?
In the Evangelists we find the proseWhich, paraphrased by her, a poem grows;A devout rapture! so divine a hymn,It may become the highest seraphim!For they, like her, in that celestial choir,Sing only what the Spirit does inspire.Taught by our Lord, and theirs, with us they mayFor all but pardon for offences pray.
Words in this poem
- urania n.
- One of the nine Muses, daughter of Zeus by Mnemosyne, and patron of astronomy.
- seraphim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Seraph. Cf. Cherubim.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer. Written by Mrs Wharton is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham, Project Gutenberg ebook #12322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edmund Waller, On the Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer. Written by Mrs Wharton, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/on-the-paraphrase-of-the-lord-s-prayer-written-by-mrs-wharto.html, id L09144.
Form and metre
On the Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer. Written by Mrs Wharton is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 --AABBCC lights · indites · aboveA · loveA · aloneB · throneB · menC · penC
- 2 AA----BB proseA · growsA · hymn · seraphim · choir · inspire · mayB · prayB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Silence, you winds! listen, ethereal lights! | 10 | /˘··/˘˘/˘· |
| While our Urania sings what Heaven indites; | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘/ |
| The numbers are the nymph's; but from above | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Descends the pledge of that eternal love. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Here wretched mortals have not leave alone, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| But are instructed to approach His throne; | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| And how can He to miserable men | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| Deny requests which His own hand did pen? | 10 | ˘/˘/······ |
| In the Evangelists we find the prose | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Which, paraphrased by her, a poem grows; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| A devout rapture! so divine a hymn, | 10 | ·˘//˘·˘/·· |
| It may become the highest seraphim! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| For they, like her, in that celestial choir, | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| Sing only what the Spirit does inspire. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Taught by our Lord, and theirs, with us they may | 10 | ··/······· |
| For all but pardon for offences pray. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.