Liberty
"'Let there be Liberty!' God said, and, lo!The red skies all were luminous. The glowStruck first Columbia's kindling mountain peaksOne hundred and eleven years ago!"
So sang a patriot whom once I sawDescending Bunker's holy hill. With aweI noted that he shone with sacred light,Like Moses with the tables of the Law.
One hundred and eleven years? O smallAnd paltry period compared with allThe tide of centuries that flowed and ebbedTo etch Yosemite's divided wall!
Ah, Liberty, they sing you always youngWhose harps are in your adoration strung(Each swears you are his countrywoman, too,And speak no language but his mother tongue).
And truly, lass, although with shout and hornMan has all-hailed you from creation's morn,I cannot think you old--I think, indeed,You are by twenty centuries unborn.
Words in this poem
- etch n.
- A variant of Eddish. Mortimer.
- countrywoman n.
- A woman born, or dwelling, in the country, as opposed to the city; a woman born or dwelling in the same country with another native or inhabitant.
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Liberty is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, Liberty, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/liberty.html, id L28064.
Form and metre
Liberty is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA-A loA · glowA · peaks · agoA
- 2 AA-A sawA · aweA · light · lawA
- 3 AA-A smallA · allA · ebbed · wallA
- 4 AA-A youngA · strungA · too · tongueA
- 5 AA-A hornA · mornA · indeed · unbornA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "'Let there be Liberty!' God said, and, lo! | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The red skies all were luminous. The glow | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Struck first Columbia's kindling mountain peaks | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| One hundred and eleven years ago!" | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| So sang a patriot whom once I saw | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Descending Bunker's holy hill. With awe | 10 | ˘/˘/˘/˘··· |
| I noted that he shone with sacred light, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Like Moses with the tables of the Law. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| One hundred and eleven years? O small | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And paltry period compared with all | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| The tide of centuries that flowed and ebbed | 11 | ···/˘˘···/˘ |
| To etch Yosemite's divided wall! | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Ah, Liberty, they sing you always young | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Whose harps are in your adoration strung | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| (Each swears you are his countrywoman, too, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And speak no language but his mother tongue). | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And truly, lass, although with shout and horn | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Man has all-hailed you from creation's morn, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| I cannot think you old--I think, indeed, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| You are by twenty centuries unborn. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘// |
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.