Isaiah LXIII. 1-8
SAY, heav'nly muse, what king or mighty God,That moves sublime from Idumea's road?In Bosrah's dies, with martial glories join'd,His purple vesture waves upon the wind.Why thus enrob'd delights he to appearIn the dread image of the Pow'r of war?Compres'd in wrath the swelling wine-press groan'd,It bled, and pour'd the gushing purple round."Mine was the act," th' Almighty Saviour said,And shook the dazzling glories of his head,"When all forsook I trod the press alone,"And conquer'd by omnipotence my own;"For man's release sustain'd the pond'rous load,"For man the wrath of an immortal God:"To execute th' Eternal's dread command"My soul I sacrific'd with willing hand;"Sinless I stood before the avenging frown,"Atoning thus for vices not my own."His eye the ample field of battle roundSurvey'd, but no created succours found;His own omnipotence sustain'd the right,His vengeance sunk the haughty foes in night;Beneath his feet the prostrate troops were spread,And round him lay the dying, and the dead.Great God, what light'ning flashes from thine eyes?What pow'r withstands if thou indignant rise?Against thy Zion though her foes may rage,And all their cunning, all their strength engage,Yet she serenely on thy bosom lies,Smiles at their arts, and all their force defies.
Words in this poem
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- omnipotence n.
- The state of being omnipotent; almighty power; hence, one who is omnipotent; the Deity. [L. omnipotentia: cf.F. omnipotence.]
- sinless a.
- Free from sin. Piers Plowman.
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- zion n.
- A hill in Jerusalem, which, after the capture of that city by the Israelites, became the royal residence of David and his successors. [Heb. tsiy, originally, a hill.]
- serenely adv.
- In a serene manner; clearly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Isaiah LXIII. 1-8 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems on various subjects, religious and moral, Project Gutenberg ebook #409; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phillis Wheatley, Isaiah LXIII. 1-8, in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #409, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wheatley-poems/isaiah-lxiii-1-8.html, id L25929.
Form and metre
Isaiah LXIII. 1-8 is 30 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AB-----CDDEEBAFF-ECCGGDDHHIIHH godA · roadB · join'd · wind · appear · war · groan'd · roundC · saidD · headD · aloneE · ownE · loadB · godA · commandF · handF · frown · ownE · roundC · foundC · rightG · nightG · spreadD · deadD · eyesH · riseH · rageI · engageI · liesH · defiesH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SAY, heav'nly muse, what king or mighty God, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That moves sublime from Idumea's road? | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| In Bosrah's dies, with martial glories join'd, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| His purple vesture waves upon the wind. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Why thus enrob'd delights he to appear | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| In the dread image of the Pow'r of war? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Compres'd in wrath the swelling wine-press groan'd, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It bled, and pour'd the gushing purple round. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| "Mine was the act," th' Almighty Saviour said, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| And shook the dazzling glories of his head, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| "When all forsook I trod the press alone, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| "And conquer'd by omnipotence my own; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| "For man's release sustain'd the pond'rous load, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| "For man the wrath of an immortal God: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| "To execute th' Eternal's dread command | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| "My soul I sacrific'd with willing hand; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| "Sinless I stood before the avenging frown, | 11 | /˘·····˘/˘· |
| "Atoning thus for vices not my own." | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| His eye the ample field of battle round | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Survey'd, but no created succours found; | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘/˘· |
| His own omnipotence sustain'd the right, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| His vengeance sunk the haughty foes in night; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Beneath his feet the prostrate troops were spread, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And round him lay the dying, and the dead. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Great God, what light'ning flashes from thine eyes? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| What pow'r withstands if thou indignant rise? | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Against thy Zion though her foes may rage, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And all their cunning, all their strength engage, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet she serenely on thy bosom lies, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Smiles at their arts, and all their force defies. | 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.