Hail Columbia
Hail, Columbia! happy land!Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,And when the storm of war was gone,Enjoyed the peace your valor won.Let independence be our boast,Ever mindful what it cost;Ever grateful for the prize,Let its altar reach the skies.
Firm, united, let us be,Rallying round our Liberty;As a band of brothers joined,Peace and safety we shall find.
Immortal patriots! rise once more:Defend your rights, defend your shore:Let no rude foe, with impious hand,Let no rude foe, with impious hand,Invade the shrine where sacred liesOf toil and blood the well-earned prize.While offering peace sincere and just,In Heaven we place a manly trust,That truth and justice will prevail,And every scheme of bondage fail.
Firm, united, let us be,Rallying round our Liberty;As a band of brothers joined,Peace and safety we shall find.
Sound, sound, the trump of Fame!Let WASHINGTON'S great nameRing through the world with loud applause,Ring through the world with loud applause;Let every clime to Freedom dear,Listen with a joyful ear.With equal skill, and godlike power,He governed in the fearful hourOf horrid war; or guides, with ease,The happier times of honest peace.
Firm, united, let us be,Rallying round our Liberty;As a band of brothers joined,Peace and safety we shall find.
Behold the chief who now commands,Once more to serve his country, stands--The rock on which the storm will beat,The rock on which the storm will beat;But, armed in virtue firm and true,His hopes are fixed on Heaven and you.When hope was sinking in dismay,And glooms obscured Columbia's day,His steady mind, from changes free.Resolved on death or liberty.
Firm, united, let us be,Rallying round our Liberty;As a band of brothers joined,Peace and safety we shall find.
Words in this poem
- columbia n.
- America; the United States; -- a poetical appellation given in honor of Columbus, the discoverer. Dr. T. Dwight.
- mindful a.
- Bearing in mind; regardful; attentive; heedful; observant.
- 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,]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hail Columbia is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from American Poetry, with Special Reference to Poe, Longfellow, Lowell and Whittier, edited by Margaret Sprague Carhart, Project Gutenberg ebook #3650; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joseph Hopkinson, Hail Columbia, (1798), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carhart-joseph-hopkinson/hail-columbia.html, id L25950.
Form and metre
Hail Columbia is 56 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABB----CC landA · bandA · causeB · causeB · gone · won · boast · cost · prizeC · skiesC
- 3 AABBCCDDEE moreA · shoreA · handB · handB · liesC · prizeC · justD · trustD · prevailE · failE
- 5 AABBCCDD-- fameA · nameA · applauseB · applauseB · dearC · earC · powerD · hourD · ease · peace
- 7 AABBCCDD-- commandsA · standsA · beatB · beatB · trueC · youC · dismayD · dayD · free · liberty
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hail, Columbia! happy land! | 8 | ·˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band! | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when the storm of war was gone, | 8 | ········ |
| Enjoyed the peace your valor won. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Let independence be our boast, | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| Ever mindful what it cost; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Ever grateful for the prize, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Let its altar reach the skies. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Firm, united, let us be, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Rallying round our Liberty; | 9 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| As a band of brothers joined, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Peace and safety we shall find. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Immortal patriots! rise once more: | 9 | ˘/˘/˘˘··· |
| Defend your rights, defend your shore: | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| Let no rude foe, with impious hand, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Let no rude foe, with impious hand, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Invade the shrine where sacred lies | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Of toil and blood the well-earned prize. | 8 | ········ |
| While offering peace sincere and just, | 9 | ·/˘˘·˘/·· |
| In Heaven we place a manly trust, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| That truth and justice will prevail, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And every scheme of bondage fail. | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Firm, united, let us be, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Rallying round our Liberty; | 9 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| As a band of brothers joined, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Peace and safety we shall find. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sound, sound, the trump of Fame! | 6 | ······ |
| Let WASHINGTON'S great name | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Ring through the world with loud applause, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Ring through the world with loud applause; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Let every clime to Freedom dear, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Listen with a joyful ear. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| With equal skill, and godlike power, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| He governed in the fearful hour | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Of horrid war; or guides, with ease, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The happier times of honest peace. | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Firm, united, let us be, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Rallying round our Liberty; | 9 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| As a band of brothers joined, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Peace and safety we shall find. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Behold the chief who now commands, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Once more to serve his country, stands-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The rock on which the storm will beat, | 8 | ········ |
| The rock on which the storm will beat; | 8 | ········ |
| But, armed in virtue firm and true, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His hopes are fixed on Heaven and you. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| When hope was sinking in dismay, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And glooms obscured Columbia's day, | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘˘· |
| His steady mind, from changes free. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Resolved on death or liberty. | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| Firm, united, let us be, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Rallying round our Liberty; | 9 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| As a band of brothers joined, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Peace and safety we shall find. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.