Analysis of Beyond the Whip

Rita Helberg 1962 (Port Elizabeth)



Beyond the Whip

Blissfully shy, and just a tiny seed was I
When sieved from the soil of my father.
Into manicured hands my devotion had fallen,
I’d grown to know no other than a heartless villain.

Captured for years by fearless obedience   
My body I sentenced with measured deviance
To labor - once more - unto death and into the pit,
Beyond the sounds of the pounding whip.  

It’s here, where souls abide instinctively naked,
Side by side, the secular and the sacred;
Where pride into meekness collapses -
Where the whip lies inept before the masses.

In this final hour vengeance is not what I seek,
Instead, for us both, oh lesser god, I now plead:    
Holding the pierced Hands by which man was formed,    
How dare I petition only the wounds of the wronged?  


Scheme A XXBB CCXA DDXX XXXX
Poetic Form
Metre 0101 100101010111 111011110 0110011010110 1111110101010 10111100100 110110110100 1101110100101 010110101 111101010010 11101000010 11011010 10110101010 0110101011111 011111101111 1001111111 1110101001101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 777
Words 154
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 118
Words per stanza (avg) 27

About this poem

The poem is about the measured death of a slave - to finish off his destiny. However brutal his master, he encounters and faces his Creator and Saviour in the end as he recognizes the pierced hands of Christ. He had no desire to nurture his own wounds any longer. Inspired by the journey of Christ to the Cross.

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Written on October 15, 2023

Submitted by Riddle-me-ree on October 15, 2023

46 sec read
3

Rita Helberg

Rita Helberg is a South African poet whose works include Infinite Verse, Child of War, Prayer of a Beggar, The Holy City, Anecdote of Love, The Servants of West Africa, and a collection of poems about children. more…

All Rita Helberg poems | Rita Helberg Books

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