Freedom
Once I wished I might rehearseFreedom's paean in my verse,That the slave who caught the strainShould throb until he snapped his chain,But the Spirit said, 'Not so;Speak it not, or speak it low;Name not lightly to be said,Gift too precious to be prayed,Passion not to be expressedBut by heaving of the breast:Yet,--wouldst thou the mountain findWhere this deity is shrined,Who gives to seas and sunset skiesTheir unspent beauty of surprise,And, when it lists him, waken canBrute or savage into man;Or, if in thy heart he shine,Blends the starry fates with thine,Draws angels nigh to dwell with thee,And makes thy thoughts archangels be;Freedom's secret wilt thou know?--Counsel not with flesh and blood;Loiter not for cloak or food;Right thou feelest, rush to do.'
Words in this poem
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Freedom is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Freedom, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/freedom.html, id L07444.
Form and metre
Freedom is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC--DDEEFFGGHHIIC--- rehearseA · verseA · strainB · chainB · soC · lowC · said · prayed · expressedD · breastD · findE · shrinedE · skiesF · surpriseF · canG · manG · shineH · thineH · theeI · beI · knowC · blood · food · do
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once I wished I might rehearse | 8 | ···˘··˘/ |
| Freedom's paean in my verse, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| That the slave who caught the strain | 7 | ······· |
| Should throb until he snapped his chain, | 8 | ········ |
| But the Spirit said, 'Not so; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Speak it not, or speak it low; | 7 | ······· |
| Name not lightly to be said, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Gift too precious to be prayed, | 8 | ··/˘···˘ |
| Passion not to be expressed | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| But by heaving of the breast: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yet,--wouldst thou the mountain find | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where this deity is shrined, | 8 | ··/˘˘··˘ |
| Who gives to seas and sunset skies | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Their unspent beauty of surprise, | 8 | ·˘//˘·˘/ |
| And, when it lists him, waken can | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Brute or savage into man; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Or, if in thy heart he shine, | 7 | ······· |
| Blends the starry fates with thine, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Draws angels nigh to dwell with thee, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And makes thy thoughts archangels be; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Freedom's secret wilt thou know?-- | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Counsel not with flesh and blood; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Loiter not for cloak or food; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Right thou feelest, rush to do.' | 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.