Hosanna
The cornfields shall be the mothers of men. They are rich with the milk that shall suckle men. The bearded men shall arise. They shall come sturdy and strong out of the West.
You may prick the new men with spears. Their blood shall run out on the snow but they are my men and shall survive.
I am a child and I weep. My hands are red and cold.I run along and blow upon them.
In me is the blood of the strong men. A little I have endured and shall endure. I am of the blood of strong bearded men. The milk of the corn is in me.
Sweet, sweet, the thought of the new men. I am cold and run through the streets of Chicago. I blow upon my red hands. Sweet, sweet the thought of the new men.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- suckle n.
- A teat. Sir T. Herbert.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hosanna is in the public domain. This text is taken from Mid-American Chants (New York: John Lane Company; London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1918), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sherwood Anderson, Hosanna, in Mid-American Chants (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/anderson-mid-american-chants/hosanna.html, id L29490.
About this section
Hosanna is prose, printed in 5 paragraphs. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.