Analysis of A Name In The Sand by Hannah Flagg Gould

Overview Of The Poem

"A Name in the Sand" is a poem written named Hannah Flagg Gould, an American poet and the daughter of an American soldier. According to bartleby article, she was "Born in Lancaster, Mass in1789 but died at Newburyport, Mass in1865". The poem is about humans' futile efforts on earth. The poem spoke on the subject via a first person singular point of view_ by using herself as an character in the poem. Hannah felt that her works on earth might be easily forgotten but her sole motivation was that God would forever keep her earthly track records (either good or bad).

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I was walking alone at the shore then stooped and wrote my name, the date and the year in the sand with the pearly shell in my hand. After I took just a stride, I looked back and saw a wave swiftly washed my handwriting away (says stanza one). The I thought in my mind that soon the wave of dark unknown sea will wash my handwriting on the sand of time away; leaving no track nor trace (says stanza two). But with God I have a lasting record of my deeds on earth which are both of glory and of shame (says stanza three).

Other vital points in the poem are:

(1) "One lingering look behind I cast" has alliteration.
(2) "Where I have trod the sandy shore/ Of time, and been, to be no more," has both assonance, alliteration and enjambment.
(3) It is a poem of 3 stanzas; 8 lines per stanza
(4) "For glory or for shame" is an antithesis.
(5) "And yet, with Him who counts the sands/ And holds the waters in his hands" has hyperbole, symbolism, end-rhyme and rhythm.
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Enunwa Chukwudinma S. aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)