Hymns and Tunes 1876 62
Thy precious promises are sweet
1Thy precious promises are sweet; I keep thy law in sight; Through all the business of the day, To form my actions right.
2My heart in midnight silence cries, How sweet thy comforts be! My thoughts in holy wonder rise, And bring their thanks to thee.
3And when my spirit drinks her fill At some good word of thine, Not mighty men that share the spoil, Have joys compared with mine.
Public Domain
The verse
- Meter
- 28
- Foot
- iambic (da-DUM) · 80% of beats fit
- Rhyme
- A
Scan every line
/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary
Verse 1
Thy precious promises are sweet; I keep thy law in sight; Through all the business of the day, To form my actions right.//˘/˘˘˘/˘///˘///˘/˘˘˘/˘/˘/˘/28A
Verse 2
My heart in midnight silence cries, How sweet thy comforts be! My thoughts in holy wonder rise, And bring their thanks to thee.˘/˘///˘/////˘˘˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/28A
Verse 3
And when my spirit drinks her fill At some good word of thine, Not mighty men that share the spoil, Have joys compared with mine.˘/˘/˘/˘/˘///˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘/28A
Counted by machine from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. It cannot hear emphasis or a poet’s licence, so treat it as a place to start reading, not the last word.