Lincoln
Hurt was the nation with a mighty wound,And all her ways were filled with clam'rous sound.Wailed loud the South with unremitting grief,And wept the North that could not find relief.Then madness joined its harshest tone to strife:A minor note swelled in the song of life.'Till, stirring with the love that filled his breast,But still, unflinching at the right's behest,Grave Lincoln came, strong handed, from afar,The mighty Homer of the lyre of war.'T was he who bade the raging tempest cease,Wrenched from his harp the harmony of peace,Muted the strings, that made the discord,--Wrong,And gave his spirit up in thund'rous song.Oh mighty Master of the mighty lyre,Earth heard and trembled at thy strains of fire:Earth learned of thee what Heav'n already knew,And wrote thee down among her treasured few.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- unflinching a.
- Not flinching or shrinking; unyielding.
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lincoln is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Lincoln, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/lincoln.html, id L00731.
Form and metre
Lincoln is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables.
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 AABBCCDD--EEFFGGHH woundA · soundA · griefB · reliefB · strifeC · lifeC · breastD · behestD · afar · war · ceaseE · peaceE · wrongF · songF · lyreG · fireG · knewH · fewH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hurt was the nation with a mighty wound, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And all her ways were filled with clam'rous sound. | 10 | ·········· |
| Wailed loud the South with unremitting grief, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And wept the North that could not find relief. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Then madness joined its harshest tone to strife: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| A minor note swelled in the song of life. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'Till, stirring with the love that filled his breast, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But still, unflinching at the right's behest, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Grave Lincoln came, strong handed, from afar, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The mighty Homer of the lyre of war. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| 'T was he who bade the raging tempest cease, | 11 | ······/˘/˘· |
| Wrenched from his harp the harmony of peace, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Muted the strings, that made the discord,--Wrong, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| And gave his spirit up in thund'rous song. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Oh mighty Master of the mighty lyre, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Earth heard and trembled at thy strains of fire: | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Earth learned of thee what Heav'n already knew, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And wrote thee down among her treasured few. | 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.