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Poetry · Chapter

Peace explained

The speaker recounts a fervent struggle to attain peace through personal will, only to find bitterness and exhaustion.

What happens

The speaker recounts a fervent struggle to attain peace through personal will, only to find bitterness and exhaustion. After a desperate cry to Heaven goes unanswered, the speaker surrenders completely to divine will, and in that moment of self-forgetfulness, peace is finally won.

Themes in this chapter

  • Spiritual Peace and Rest

    The central theme of the chapter: peace is achieved not through striving but through surrender to divine will.

  • Faith and Doubt

    The speaker's initial doubt and desperate cry to Heaven are resolved by an act of faith in accepting 'His will be done.'

Characters to notice

  • Unknown

    The speaker who strives for peace, grows weary, and ultimately finds peace through surrender.

  • Jesus

    Implied as the divine presence to whom the speaker submits, saying 'His will be done.'

Key passages

  • “With eager heart and will on fire, I strove to win my great desire. 'Peace shall be mine,' I said; but life Grew bitter in the barren strife.”

    I passionately pursued peace as a goal, but the struggle only made life bitter.

    The speaker's initial approach to peace as something to be conquered through effort.

  • “Broken at last, I bowed my head, Forgetting all myself, and said, 'Whatever comes, His will be done;' And in that moment peace was won.”

    Finally humbled and self-forgetful, I surrendered to divine will, and instantly found peace.

    The turning point where surrender, not striving, brings peace.

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