Freedom
I WOULD be free! For freedom is all fair,And her strong smile is like the smile of God.Her voice rings out like trumpet on the air,And men rise up and follow; though the roadBe all unknown and hard to understand,They tread it gladly, holding Freedom’s hand.
I would be free! The little spark of HeavenLet in my soul when life was breathed in meIs like a flame, this way and that way drivenBy ever wavering winds, which ceaselesslyKindle and blow till all my soul is hot.And would consume if liberty were not.
I would be free! But what is freedom, then?For widely various are the shapes she wearsIn different ages and to different men;And many titles, many forms she bears,—Riot and revolution, sword and flame,All called in turn by Freedom’s honored name.
I would be free! Not free to burn and spoil,To trample down the weak and smite the strong,To seize the larger share of wine and oil,And rob the sun my daylight to prolong,And rob the night of sleep while others wake,—Feast on their famine, basely free to take.
I would be free! Free in a dearer way,Free to become all that I may or can;To be my best and utmost self each day,Not held or bound by any chain of man,By dull convention, or by foolish sneer,Or love’s mistaken clasp of feeble fear.
Free to be kind and true and faithful; freeTo do the happy thing that makes life good,To grow as grows the goodly forest-tree;By none gainsaid, by none misunderstood,To taste life’s freshness with a child’s delight,And find new joy in every day and night.
I would be free! Ah! so may all be free.Then shall the world grow sweet at core and sound.And, moved in blest and ordered circuit, seeThe bright millennial sun rise fair and round,Heaven’s day begin, and Christ, whose service isFreedom all perfect, rule the world as his.
Words in this poem
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- basely adv.
- In a base manner; with despicable meanness; dishonorably; shamefully.
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- 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,]
- millennial a.
- Of or pertaining to the millennium, or to a thousand years; as, a millennial period; millennial happiness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Freedom is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, Freedom, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/freedom.html, id L23425.
Form and metre
Freedom is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See 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 A-A-BB fairA · god · airA · road · understandB · handB
- 2 ----AA heaven · me · driven · ceaselessly · hotA · notA
- 3 ABABCC thenA · wearsB · menA · bearsB · flameC · nameC
- 4 ABABCC spoilA · strongB · oilA · prolongB · wakeC · takeC
- 5 ABABCC wayA · canB · dayA · manB · sneerC · fearC
- 6 ABABCC freeA · goodB · treeA · misunderstoodB · delightC · nightC
- 7 ABABCC freeA · soundB · seeA · roundB · isC · hisC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I WOULD be free! For freedom is all fair, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And her strong smile is like the smile of God. | 10 | ·········· |
| Her voice rings out like trumpet on the air, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And men rise up and follow; though the road | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Be all unknown and hard to understand, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| They tread it gladly, holding Freedom’s hand. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| I would be free! The little spark of Heaven | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Let in my soul when life was breathed in me | 10 | ·········· |
| Is like a flame, this way and that way driven | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| By ever wavering winds, which ceaselessly | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| Kindle and blow till all my soul is hot. | 10 | /˘········ |
| And would consume if liberty were not. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘·· |
| I would be free! But what is freedom, then? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For widely various are the shapes she wears | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| In different ages and to different men; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And many titles, many forms she bears,— | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Riot and revolution, sword and flame, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| All called in turn by Freedom’s honored name. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| I would be free! Not free to burn and spoil, | 10 | ·········· |
| To trample down the weak and smite the strong, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To seize the larger share of wine and oil, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And rob the sun my daylight to prolong, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| And rob the night of sleep while others wake,— | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Feast on their famine, basely free to take. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| I would be free! Free in a dearer way, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Free to become all that I may or can; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To be my best and utmost self each day, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Not held or bound by any chain of man, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| By dull convention, or by foolish sneer, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or love’s mistaken clasp of feeble fear. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Free to be kind and true and faithful; free | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To do the happy thing that makes life good, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To grow as grows the goodly forest-tree; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| By none gainsaid, by none misunderstood, | 10 | ·······˘˘/ |
| To taste life’s freshness with a child’s delight, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And find new joy in every day and night. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I would be free! Ah! so may all be free. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then shall the world grow sweet at core and sound. | 10 | ·········· |
| And, moved in blest and ordered circuit, see | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The bright millennial sun rise fair and round, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Heaven’s day begin, and Christ, whose service is | 11 | /˘·˘/···/˘· |
| Freedom all perfect, rule the world as his. | 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.