Ode to Liberty
"Who shall awake the Spartan fife,And call in solemn sounds to life,The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue."
There is something extremely bold in this imagery of the locks of theSpartan youths, and greatly superior to that description Jocasta givesus of the hair of Polynices:
"What new Alcæus, fancy-blest,Shall sing the sword, in myrtles drest," &c.
"Nor e'er her former pride relateTo sad Liguria's bleeding state."
"----When the favour'd of thy choice,The daring archer heard thy voice."
For an account of the celebrated event referred to in these verses, seeVoltaire's Epistle to the King of Prussia.
"Those whom the rod of Alva bruised,Whose crown a British queen refused!"
"------Mona,Where thousand elfin shapes abide."
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,]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- imagery n.
- The work of one who makes images or visible representation of objects; imitation work; images in general, or in mass. [OE. imagerie, F. imagerie.]
- mona n.
- A small, handsome, long-tailed West American monkey (Cercopithecus mona). The body is dark olive, with a spot of white on the haunches. [CF. Sp. & Pg. mona, fem. of mono a monkey, ape.]
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ode to Liberty is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Collins; With a Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #29879; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Collins, Ode to Liberty, in Ode to Evening, and Other Poems (1746), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29879, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/collins-poems/ode-to-liberty.html, id L13371.
Form and metre
Ode to Liberty is 19 lines in 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AA-- fifeA · lifeA · spreading · hue
- 4 AA relateA · stateA
- 5 AA choiceA · voiceA
- 7 AA bruisedA · refusedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Who shall awake the Spartan fife, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And call in solemn sounds to life, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The youths, whose locks divinely spreading, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue." | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| There is something extremely bold in this imagery of the locks of the | 17 | ··/˘˘/˘···/˘····· |
| Spartan youths, and greatly superior to that description Jocasta gives | 18 | /˘··/˘˘/˘··˘/˘···· |
| us of the hair of Polynices: | 9 | ········· |
| "What new Alcæus, fancy-blest, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Shall sing the sword, in myrtles drest," &c. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "Nor e'er her former pride relate | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To sad Liguria's bleeding state." | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "----When the favour'd of thy choice, | 7 | ······· |
| The daring archer heard thy voice." | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For an account of the celebrated event referred to in these verses, see | 20 | ··˘/··/˘·˘˘/˘/···/˘· |
| Voltaire's Epistle to the King of Prussia. | 11 | ˘/˘/˘····/˘ |
| "Those whom the rod of Alva bruised, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whose crown a British queen refused!" | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| "------Mona, | 2 | /˘ |
| Where thousand elfin shapes abide." | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
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.