Analysis of The Unknown God
The President to Kingdoms,
As in the Days of Old;
The King to the Republic,
As it had been foretold.
They could not read the spelling,
They would not hear the call;
They would not brook the telling
Of Writing on the Wall.
I buy my Peace with Slaughter,
With Peace I fashion War;
I drown the land with water,
With land I build the shore.
I walk with Son and Daughter
Where Ocean rolled before.
I build a town where sea was
A tower where tempests roar.
From bays in distant islands,
And rocks in lonely seas,
With unseen Death in silence
I smite mine enemies!
The great Cathedral crashes
Where once a city stood;
I build again on ashes
And breed on clotted blood!
I link the seas together,
And at my sign and will
The train runs on the ocean bed,
The great ship climbs the hill!
For pastime I flood deserts
With water from the rill;
And in my tireless leisure hours
I empty lakes, and fill.
I plumb the seas beneath us
And fathom skies above,
Yet I make Peace for hatred
And I make War for love.
I race beneath the ranges
And sit where Mystery dwells—
Yet mankind sees no changes,
They ask for “miracles!”
I own the world and span its
Lone lands from Pole to Pole;
I live in other planets,
Yet do not know my soul—
The soul that none may fathom,
Whose secrets none may tell,
The soul that none may humble,
The Soul Unconquerable!
I am the God of Ages!
I am the Unknown God!
My life is written pages
Wherever man hath trod.
From bounds of Polar regions,
To where the Desert reigns,
I’ve left my myriad legions
On countless vanished plains.
And I shall reign for ever
On earth while oceans roll,
In shape of man, or woman,
Through my immortal soul;
Yet I can love and suffer,
Be angry, or be mild,
And I can bow me down and weep
Just like a mortal child.
I conquer Death and Living,
And Fiends in shape of men,
For I rejoice in giving
Not to receive again.
For I am Man!—and Mortal!
And Mammon’s Towers must fall,
Though Greed draws all his pencils through
The Writing on the Wall!
Scheme | XAXABCBCDEDEDEFE XGXGXXFH DIXIXIXI XJHJFXFX XKXKXXIC FLFLMNMN DKXKDOXO BPBPICXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010110 100111 0110010 111101 1111010 111101 1111010 110101 1111110 111101 1101110 111101 1111010 110101 1101111 010111 1101010 010101 1011010 111100 0101010 110101 1101110 011101 1101010 011101 01110101 011101 111110 110101 0011001010 110101 1101011 010101 1111110 011111 1101010 0111001 1111110 111100 1101011 111111 1101010 111111 0111110 110111 0111110 011 1101110 110011 1111010 010111 1111010 110101 11110010 110101 0111110 111101 0111110 110101 1111010 110111 01111101 110101 1101010 010111 1101010 110101 1111010 011011 11111101 010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,936 |
Words | 386 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 192 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:55 min read
- 48 Views
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"The Unknown God" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18127/the-unknown-god>.
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