Joseph's Hymn

D+C 121-122

If hell rage as thine enemy

thy strength tax, every whit

If thou be cast into the deep

If thou art in a pit

How vast the heavens darkly teem

The surge may billow o’er

the wind so fierce in all its might

thy way hedged round with fear

then fear thou not, what can man do?

Peace, my son, son believe

these things shall give thee for thy good

Experience, hope, and love

Common meter: 8-6-8-6

Text style: Euphism

Anaphora: if, if (lines 3, 4)
consonance: believe, love (lines 10, 12)
alliteration: repetition of “th” throughout
anadiplosis: fear, fear (line 8, 9)
full rime: whit, pit (lines 2, 4)
can, man (line 9)
Latin etymologies: tax, fierce, experience (lines 2, 7, 13)
inversion: “thy strength tax” (line 2)
pleonasm: if thou…if thou (lines 3 and 4)
inversion: “how vast the heavens darkly teem” (line 5)
polyptoton: fierce, fear (lines 7, 8)
concretization: hedged (line 8)
parison: lines 7 and 8
rhetorical question: line 10
epizeuxis: “son, son” (line 10)
hyperbation: line 11
triad: experience, hope, and love (line 12)