Washington’s Statue: Sent from England to America
Yes! rear thy guardian hero’s formOn thy proud soil, thou western world!A watcher through each sign of storm,O’er freedom’s flag unfurl’d.
There, as before a shrine, to bow,Bid thy true sons their children lead:The language of that noble browFor all things good shall plead.
The spirit rear’d in patriot fight,The virtue born of home and hearth,There calmly throned, a holy lightShall pour o’er chainless earth.
And let that work of England’s hand,Sent through the blast and surge’s roar,So girt with tranquil glory standFor ages on thy shore!
Such, through all time, the greetings be,That with the Atlantic billow sweep!Telling the mighty and the freeOf brothers o’er the deep.
Words in this poem
- watcher n.
- One who watches; one who sits up or continues; a diligent observer; specifically, one who attends upon the sick during the night.
- 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,]
- chainless a.
- Having no chain; not restrained or fettered.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Washington’s Statue: Sent from England to America is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Washington’s Statue: Sent from England to America, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/washington-s-statue-sent-from-england-to-america.html, id L19532.
Form and metre
Washington’s Statue: Sent from England to America is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 ABAB formA · worldB · stormA · unfurl'dB
- 2 ABAB bowA · leadB · browA · pleadB
- 3 A-A- fightA · hearth · lightA · earth
- 4 ABAB handA · roarB · standA · shoreB
- 5 ABAB beA · sweepB · freeA · deepB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes! rear thy guardian hero’s form | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| On thy proud soil, thou western world! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A watcher through each sign of storm, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O’er freedom’s flag unfurl’d. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| There, as before a shrine, to bow, | 8 | ········ |
| Bid thy true sons their children lead: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The language of that noble brow | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For all things good shall plead. | 6 | ······ |
| The spirit rear’d in patriot fight, | 8 | ·/··/˘˘· |
| The virtue born of home and hearth, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| There calmly throned, a holy light | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Shall pour o’er chainless earth. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And let that work of England’s hand, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sent through the blast and surge’s roar, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So girt with tranquil glory stand | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For ages on thy shore! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Such, through all time, the greetings be, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That with the Atlantic billow sweep! | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| Telling the mighty and the free | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Of brothers o’er the deep. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.