Analysis of What Though I Cannot Break My Chain

Augustus Montague Toplady 1740 (Farnham, Surrey) – 1778



What though I cannot break my chain
Or e’er throw off my load,
The things impossible to men
Are possible to God.

Who, who shall in Thy presence stand,
Or match omnipotence;
Unfold the grasp of Thy right hand
And pluck the sinner thence?

Faith to be healed I fain would have,
O might it now be given;
Thou canst, thou canst the sinner save,
And make me meet for heav’n.

Bound down with twice ten thousand ties,
Yet let me hear Thy call;
My soul in confidence shall rise,
Shall rise and break through all.

Thou canst o’ercome this heart of mine,
Thou wilt victorious prove;
For everlasting strength is Thine,
And everlasting love.


Scheme AXXX BXBX XXXA CDCD EXEX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (40%)
Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11110111 111111 01010011 110011 11101101 110100 01011111 010101 11111111 1111110 11110101 011111 11111101 111111 11010011 110111 1111111 1101001 1010111 00101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 623
Words 117
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 98
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
57

Augustus Montague Toplady

Augustus Montague Toplady was an Anglican cleric and hymn writer. He was a major Calvinist opponent of John Wesley. He is best remembered as the author of the hymn "Rock of Ages". Three of his other hymns – "A Debtor to Mercy Alone", "Deathless Principle, Arise" and "Object of My First Desire" – are still occasionally sung today. more…

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    What is the term for the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
    A Line break
    B Dithyramb
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