Maceo. 79
In the new era of your life,Bring love for hate, and peace for strife;Upon your hearts this vow recordThat ye will build unto the LordA nobler future, true and grand,To strengthen, crown and bless the land.A higher freedom ye may gainThan that which comes from a riven chain;Freedom your native land to blessWith peace, and love and righteousness,As dreams that are past, a tale all told,Are the days when men were bought and sold;Now God be praised from sea to sea,Our flag floats o'er a country free.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- righteousness n.
- The quality or state of being righteous; holiness; purity; uprightness; rectitude. [AS. rihtwisnes.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Maceo. 79 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #679; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Maceo. 79, in Poems (1854–1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #679, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/harper-poems/maceo-79.html, id L10623.
Form and metre
Maceo. 79 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG lifeA · strifeA · recordB · lordB · grandC · landC · gainD · chainD · blessE · righteousnessE · toldF · soldF · seaG · freeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the new era of your life, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bring love for hate, and peace for strife; | 8 | ········ |
| Upon your hearts this vow record | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That ye will build unto the Lord | 8 | ········ |
| A nobler future, true and grand, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To strengthen, crown and bless the land. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A higher freedom ye may gain | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Than that which comes from a riven chain; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Freedom your native land to bless | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| With peace, and love and righteousness, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| As dreams that are past, a tale all told, | 9 | ········· |
| Are the days when men were bought and sold; | 9 | ········· |
| Now God be praised from sea to sea, | 8 | ········ |
| Our flag floats o'er a country free. | 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.