Monday 14 October 2019 

I OPEN MY MOUTH TO THE LORD  

Traditional Lyrics  
Tutti:  
I open my mouth to the Lord,  
And I won’t turn back.  
I will go! I shall go!  
To see what the end’s going be.  
 
Round – Sopranos start, add Altos, add Tenors, add Basses:  
I open my mouth to the Lord,  
And I won’t turn back.  
I will go! I shall go!  
To see what the end’s going be. 
 
 
I open my mouth to the Lord 
 
definition of gospel music 
the metre of hymns 
 
Comment on the poetic elements of the lyric (you should refer to the metre of 
hymns article) but consider other elements also: 
The poem used the metre (hymn) for the rhyme in the poem; it uses the 86.6.8 (86.68) 
pattern quatrain (follow an iambic tetrameter for the first and last line, but the second 
and third line follow an iambic trimeter) because on the second line ‘back’ is 
pronounced with two syllables: ‘ba’’ack’ therefore it is 6 syllables on the second line. 
The form of the poem is lyric poetry as it expresses one’s devotion and feelings to 
God. The stanzas have a parallel structure as they repeat: ‘I open’, ‘I won’t’, ‘I will’ and ‘I 
shall’. At the third line, there is consonance in the ‘will’ and ‘shall’ as both of them have 
the ‘ll’ sound at the end; also the repetition of ‘go’ illustrates the perseverance of their 
attitude in the poem. Additionally, ‘open’ is kind of onomatopoeia because the mouth 
expression that you make to say “‘O’pen” creates a similar look to how you open your 
 mouth. The first line, ‘mouth’ has a synecdoche as it relates to speech or devotion 
because if you offer your mouth or open it for God you will probably pray or sing 
hymns for God, therefore it shows singing and devotion to God. On the second line, “I 
won’t turn back” it is an allegory of the discrimination of black people in America, as 
this song is a negro spiritual gospel song, which reflects the era of slavery back then; 
describing how black people got to keep going despite the discrimination and 
inequality towards them. 
Comment on the performance: 
On line 3, the two phrases of ‘I will go!’ and ‘I shall go!’, they both convey the strong 
devotion toward God, as they sing quite victoriously and in quick succession to show 
the path to God is un-obstructed and peacefully fluid. The performance is very quick 
and the pronunciation of endings of each line is very concise - creating an upbeat 
rhythm to it. This upbeat and fast rhythm defines the devotion and truthfulness of 
their feelings and emotion toward God, because by singing it quick and concise way 
they show that they are focused and their soul has strengthened like by singing it 
gives them confidence and safety. The way they sing it almost feels like they are 
saying the lyric’s literal message, as they show this by their facial expression and 
ready to move and make them feel unstoppable.