Hymns and Tunes 1886 78
Great, great God, how infinite thou art
Words: Isaac WattsTune: 27, 76, 174
1Great, great God, how infinite thou art!
What worthless worms are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee.
2Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere seas or stars were made;
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.
3Eternity, with all its years,
Stands present in thy view;
To thee there's nothing old appears,
Nor ought is new.
- Words
- Isaac Watts
- Tune
- 27, 76, 174
Public Domain
The verse
- Meter
- 9.6.8.6
- Foot
- iambic (da-DUM) · 67% of beats fit
- Rhyme
- ABCB
Scan every line
/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary
Verse 1
Great, great God, how infinite thou art!/////˘˘//9A
What worthless worms are we!˘/˘/˘˘6B
Let the whole race of creatures bow,/˘//˘/˘/8C
And pay their praise to thee.˘/˘/˘/6B
Verse 2
Thy throne eternal ages stood,//˘/˘/˘/8A
Ere seas or stars were made;//˘/˘/6B
Thou art the ever-living God,//˘????/8C
Were all the nations dead.˘/˘/˘/6D
Verse 3
Eternity, with all its years,˘/˘˘˘/˘/8A
Stands present in thy view;//˘˘//6B
To thee there's nothing old appears,˘///˘/˘/8A
Nor ought is new.˘/˘/4B
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.