ii. The Mourning for the Fool. Metrical scheme: a brief strophe and antistrophe and conclusion.
iii. The Two Paths. Strophe, the way of wisdom; antistrophe, the path of the wicked; conclusion, union of the two in a common image.
iv. The Creator has made Wisdom the Supreme Prize. The metrical scheme of this sonnet is an example of 'antistrophic inversion': that is, two strophes followed by their antistrophes, but the antistrophe to the second strophe precedes the antistrophe to the first. [This is sometimes expressed by the formula a b b a; or (reckoning the number of lines in each strophe) 4, 6; 6, 4.] The printing makes this clear to the eye.—The unity of thought in the sonnet is the conception of Wisdom as a prize. The middle strophe and antistrophe describe the richness of this prize; the opening strophe makes 'chastening' the cost at which it is obtained by the individual from the Lord; and the corresponding antistrophe (at the end) explains the reason for this costliness—wisdom was the instrument by which the whole universe was created.
v. Watchfulness of Lips and Heart. A Prayer in sonnet form. The metrical scheme is an illustration of 'duplication' applied to antistrophic structure: a quatrain question (strophe 1) has a couplet answer (strophe 2); then the quatrain is duplicated into an octet (antistrophe 1), and the answer is duplicated into a quatrain (antistrophe 2). [The lines of invocation are not counted in strophe and antistrophe 2.]
vi. Wisdom and the Fear of the Lord. This is one of the most elaborate sonnets: its metrical scheme combines antistrophic and stanza structure (above, page [243]). There is first a strophe with its antistrophe; then a series of stanzas; but these stanzas illustrate the metrical device of 'augmenting,' for they increase, as the thought gathers strength, from 3 lines to 5 lines and 6 lines.
vii. Wisdom and the Strange Woman. This is at once the foremost of wisdom poems in its thought, and the most elaborate in sonnet structure: here, as always, the structure is an exact reflection of the thought.
The metrical scheme shows stanza structure throughout. The poem falls into seven sections. In sections 1, 3, 4, 7, which contain the thread of argument, we find octet and ten-line stanzas. Section 2, which breaks off from the argument to give a picture of temptation, changes to sextet stanzas. Sections 5 and 6, the monologue of Wisdom, are cast in quatrains, but as the monologue crescendoes to its climax the quatrains 'augment' to 5, 6, 7 lines. There is further the artistic device of 'interruption': the regular flow of stanzas is broken at critical points by single couplets (like musical rhythm interrupted by recitative); again in section 2 the actual speech of the temptress is an irregular mass of lines outside the stanza structure, and this break in the flow of lines has a fine effect.
The thought of the poem is in the highest degree grand and bold. Scriptural philosophy loves to celebrate under the name 'Wisdom' the union of all things, whether of the external universe or of the spiritual life, in one Divine harmony. In this poem this Wisdom is to be personified, and to proclaim her attractions. But the poet prepares the way by contrast with the spirit of temptation, also personified in female form practising her allurements. This is displayed in a boldly drawn picture; and then the poet, with the words Doth not Wisdom cry? suddenly turns round and presents 'Wisdom' as the temptress to good.
LYRICS
i-ii. These two selections are from the Book of Job. This consists of matter mainly philosophic worked up into an elaborate poem in which all literary forms—epic, lyric, drama, rhetoric, etc.—are blended in a way unparalleled in modern literature. Hence the form of these two pieces is intermediate between wisdom sonnets and the lyrical poems that follow.