Liberty
What man is there so bold that he should say,"Thus, and thus only, would I have the sea"?For whether lying calm and beautiful,Clasping the earth in love, and throwing backThe smile of heaven from waves of amethyst;Or whether, freshened by the busy winds,It bears the trade and navies of the worldTo ends of use or stern activity;Or whether, lashed by tempests, it gives wayTo elemental fury, howls and roarsAt all its rocky barriers, in wild lustOf ruin drinks the blood of living things,And strews its wrecks o'er leagues of desolate shore,--Always it is the sea, and men bow downBefore its vast and varied majesty.
So all in vain will timorous ones essayTo set the metes and bounds of Liberty.For Freedom is its own eternal law;It makes its own conditions, and in stormOr calm alike fulfils the unerring Will.Let us not then despise it when it liesStill as a sleeping lion, while a swarmOf gnat-like evils hover round its head;Nor doubt it when in mad, disjointed timesIt shakes the torch of terror, and its cryShrills o'er the quaking earth, and in the flameOf riot and war we see its awful formRise by the scaffold, where the crimson axeRings down its grooves the knell of shuddering kings.For ever in thine eyes, O Liberty,Shines that high light whereby the world is saved,And though thou slay us, we will trust in thee!
Words in this poem
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- unerring a.
- Committing no mistake; incapable or error or failure certain; sure; unfailing; as, the unerring wisdom of God.
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- disjointed a.
- Separated at the joints; disconnected; incoherent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Liberty is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, Liberty, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/liberty.html, id L21607.
Form and metre
Liberty is 32 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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------ sayA · sea · beautiful · back · amethyst · winds · world · activity · wayA · roars · lust · things · shore · down · majesty
- 2 -A-B--B----B--A-- essay · libertyA · law · stormB · will · lies · swarmB · head · times · cry · flame · formB · axe · kings · libertyA · saved · thee
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What man is there so bold that he should say, | 10 | ·········· |
| "Thus, and thus only, would I have the sea"? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For whether lying calm and beautiful, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Clasping the earth in love, and throwing back | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The smile of heaven from waves of amethyst; | 11 | ···/˘···/˘˘ |
| Or whether, freshened by the busy winds, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| It bears the trade and navies of the world | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To ends of use or stern activity; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Or whether, lashed by tempests, it gives way | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To elemental fury, howls and roars | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| At all its rocky barriers, in wild lust | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of ruin drinks the blood of living things, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And strews its wrecks o'er leagues of desolate shore,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Always it is the sea, and men bow down | 10 | /········· |
| Before its vast and varied majesty. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| So all in vain will timorous ones essay | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To set the metes and bounds of Liberty. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| For Freedom is its own eternal law; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| It makes its own conditions, and in storm | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Or calm alike fulfils the unerring Will. | 11 | ··˘/···˘/˘· |
| Let us not then despise it when it lies | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Still as a sleeping lion, while a swarm | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of gnat-like evils hover round its head; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Nor doubt it when in mad, disjointed times | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| It shakes the torch of terror, and its cry | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Shrills o'er the quaking earth, and in the flame | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of riot and war we see its awful form | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Rise by the scaffold, where the crimson axe | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Rings down its grooves the knell of shuddering kings. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For ever in thine eyes, O Liberty, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Shines that high light whereby the world is saved, | 10 | ·········· |
| And though thou slay us, we will trust in thee! | 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.