The poet uses simple language throughout this piece. Ensuring that readers are well aware of their speaker’s beliefs and intentions for themselves. It’s going to be hard to walk away from ‘I Am Christ’s’ without a solid understanding of what the speaker wants and where their religious beliefs lie.
Summary
‘I Am Christ’s’ by Leslie Alexis is a short and simple poem that shares a speaker’s devotion to God.
The poem starts with the speaker stating that one day in the future, once they’ve passed away, they’re going to go to heaven and stand at God’s right hand. They’re going to enjoy all the pleasures of heaven and see the angels flying around. They belong to Jesus, they add and have no interest in Satan at all. The poem ends with a repetition of the same two lines it opened with.
You can read the full poem here.
Detailed Analysis
Stanza One
In Heaven, at the right hand of God I’ll sit,
I haven’t been there, but my eyes can see it.
Adorned in righteous robes, I’ll stand by the king.
(…)
I belong to JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, JESUS and JESUS!
Your tricks and deceits would get to me anymore.
In the first lines of ‘I Am Christ’s’ the speaker begins by stating that eventually, once they die and go to heaven, that they are going to sit at the “right hand of God.” They believe they’ll go to heaven and have a close relationship with God. They haven’t been there yet, but they can imagine it in their mind. The speaker is going to see all the amazing sights of heaven, like the “angels flying with their angelic wings.”
The speaker believes that there is no way that they are going to fail on their journey to get to heaven because Christ is “as my head.” Christ’s intentions and goodness are their own. They refer to Christ whenever making a tough decision, ensuring they’re acting in a way that’s going to get them into heaven.
There is a good example of repetition towards the end of this stanza when the writer repeats the word “Jesus” five times in the same line. In this way, they are emphasizing the fact that they are religious and belong to their Christian faith.
Stanza Two
God has encamped around me with angels – 10,000 X 4.
(…)
I haven’t been there, but my eyes can see it.
In the final lines, the speaker addresses Satan. They tell this dark force that they believe, to some extent can hear them, that they lost “since you first started this spiritual war.” God is worth everything in their mind, and Satan is “worthless.” The poet uses a refrain at the end of the poem, repeating the lines: “In Heaven, at the right hand of God,’ I’ll sit. / I haven’t been there, but my eyes can see it.”
Structure and Form
‘I Am Christ’s’ by Leslie Alexis is a two-stanza poem that is separated into one set of ten lines and another set of five. These lines follow a simple rhyme scheme of AABBCCDD, and so on, changing the end sound from couplet to couplet. The poem does not follow a specific metrical pattern, but the lines are visually similar, creating a feeling of unity.
Literary Devices
Throughout ‘I Am Christ’s’ the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to:
- Caesura: occurs when the poet inserts a pause into the middle of a line. For example, “You cannot have; I am Christ’s, and so too is my heart.”
- Alliteration: can be seen when the poet repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “Heaven” and “haven’t” in lines one and two as well as “soul” and “satan” in line seven.
- Repetition: can be seen when the poet repeats an element, for example, the word “Jesus.”
- Refrain: occurs when the poet repeats an entire line of text exactly. For example, “I haven’t been there, but my eyes can see it” which appears at the beginning of the poem and at the end.
FAQs
The tone is passionate and determined. The speaker is very sure of their beliefs, and the lines suggest that there is no way they could be swayed away from them.
The purpose is to share one person’s devotion to God and intention to make it to heaven and stand by God’s side. They renounce Satan, condemning him as worthless in the face of God.
Throughout this poem, the poet engages with themes of religion and devotion. Their speaker, who is likely the poet themselves, is devoted to Christ and uses the lines to make that very clear. They use several literary devices to this end.
Similar Poetry
Readers who enjoyed ‘I Am Christ’s’ should also consider reading some related poems. For example:
- ‘God’s Grandeur’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins – explores God’s creation and celebrates it.
- ‘To Find God’ by Robert Herrick -centers around that age-old question: does God exist?
- ‘I Give You Thanks My God’ by Bernard Dadié – describes the nature of blackness and the speaker’s gratitude for the strength to carry the world.
