Analysis of From ‘The Cross’
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
Who can blot out the Cross, which th’instrument
Of God, dew’d on me in the Sacrament?
Who can deny me power, and liberty
To stretch mine arms, and mine own Cross to be?
Swim, and at every stroke, thou art thy Cross;
The Mast and yard make one, where seas do toss;
Look down, thou spiest out Crosses in small things;
Look up, thou seest birds rais’d on crossed wings;
All the Globes frame, and spheres, is nothing else
But the Meridians crossing Parallels.
Material Crosses then, good physic bee,
But yet spiritual have chief dignity.
These for extracted chemic medicine serve,
And cure much better, and as well preserve;
Then are you your own physic, or need none,
When Still’d, or purg’d by tribulation.
For when that Cross ungrudg’d, unto you sticks,
Then are you to your self, a Crucifix.
As perchance, Carvers do not faces make,
But that away, which hid them there, do take;
Let Crosses, so, take what hid Christ in thee,
And be his image, or not his, but he.
Scheme | AAABCCDDEFBAGGHHIIJJBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111 1111100100 11011100100 1111011111 10110011111 0101111111 1111110011 111111111 1011011101 1011010 0100101111 11100011100 1101011001 0111001101 111111111 11111010 111111011 111111010 1011011101 1101111111 1101111101 0111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,033 |
Words | 177 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 22 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 740 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 175 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 99 Views
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"From ‘The Cross’" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22501/from-%E2%80%98the-cross%E2%80%99>.
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