Analysis of Up, Lazarus.
Is there news of his arrival?
Have they seen him on the way?
How we need his hand of healing,
How we need his strength to pray!
Yet this waiting, wretched waiting,
While our brother slips away.
Was the message given promptly?
Was he begged to make all speed?
Was he told our fears for Lazarus?
Was he made to see our need?
Oh be coming, please be coming,
Jesus, hasten! Intercede!
Down the road at last, his figure,
But alas, then much too late.
“Had you been a little sooner,
Lord, you might have changed his fate.
But our brother, precious brother
Has already passed death’s gate.”
Then he asked that we might take him
To the place where Lazarus slept;
And we passed through friends and family,
All who tearful vigil kept;
And we heard the Master groaning.
And we watched as Jesus wept.
At the tomb door, still our champion,
Praying through our wicked doubt,
He addressed the bitter fact of death
With victory and a shout;
There the Master, still the Master,
Crying, “Lazarus, come out!”
And the place of death was shaken
By the challenge which he hurled.
And the soul of him once taken
Was recovered to our world.
Thank you Jesus for our brother!
And the graveclothes were unfurled.
How I pale now at the memory
Of my thoughts and words of fear,
And of pitiful self-pity
Which would deem Christ insincere.
He was caring, deeply caring,
Ever strong and ever near.
He had purpose in delaying
Which was far beyond our view;
And when everything seemed lost he proved
Both trustworthy and true
To a mighty love that neither
Grave nor death could e’er subdue.
Scheme | ABCBCBDEFECEGHGHGHIJDJCJKLMLGLKNKNGNDODOCOCPQPGP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111010 1111101 11111110 1111111 11101010 11010101 10101010 1111111 1111011100 11111101 11101110 101001 10111110 1011111 11101010 1111111 110101010 1010111 11111111 10111001 011110100 1110101 01101010 0111101 1011110100 10110101 101010111 1100001 10101010 1010011 00111110 1010111 00111110 10101101 111011010 001001 111110100 1110111 01100110 111101 11101010 1010101 11100010 11101101 01101111 11001 10101110 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,575 |
Words | 321 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 48 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,217 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 283 |
About this poem
Raised from the dead. One of three by Jesus’ hand.
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Written on March 05, 2008
Submitted by dougb.19255 on March 05, 2023
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:36 min read
- 3 Views
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"Up, Lazarus." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/152801/up%2C-lazarus.>.
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