How Long?
How long, and yet how long,Our leaders will we hail from over seas,Master and kings from feudal monarchies,And mock their ancient songWith echoes weak of foreign melodies?
That distant isle mist-wreathed,Mantled in unimaginable green,Too long hath been our mistress and our queen.Our fathers have bequeathedToo deep a love for her, our hearts within.
She made the whole world ringWith the brave exploits of her children strong,And with the matchless music of her song.Too late, too late we clingTo alien legends, and their strains prolong.
This fresh young world I see,With heroes, cities, legends of her own;With a new race of men, and overblownBy winds from sea to sea,Decked with the majesty of every zone.
I see the glittering topsOf snow-peaked mounts, the wid'ning vale's expanse,Large prairies where free herds of horses prance,Exhaustless wealth of crops,In vast, magnificent extravagance.
These grand, exuberant plains,These stately rivers, each with many a mouth,The exquisite beauty of the soft-aired south,The boundless seas of grains,Luxuriant forests' lush and splendid growth.
The distant siren-songOf the green island in the eastern sea,Is not the lay for this new chivalry.It is not free and strongTo chant on prairies 'neath this brilliant sky.
The echo faints and fails;It suiteth not, upon this western plain,Out voice or spirit; we should stir againThe wilderness, and make the valesResound unto a yet unheard-of strain.
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- exhaustless a.
- Not be exhausted; inexhaustible; as, an exhaustless fund or store.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- lush a.
- Full of juice or succulence. [Prob. an abbrev. of lushious, fr. luscious.]
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How Long? is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, How Long?, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/how-long.html, id L01880.
Form and metre
How Long? is 40 lines in 8 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 4 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 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 ABBAB longA · seasB · monarchiesB · songA · melodiesB
- 2 -AA-- wreathed · greenA · queenA · bequeathed · within
- 3 ABBAB ringA · strongB · songB · clingA · prolongB
- 4 ABBAB seeA · ownB · overblownB · seaA · zoneB
- 5 ABBAB topsA · expanseB · pranceB · cropsA · extravaganceB
- 6 ABBA- plainsA · mouthB · southB · grainsA · growth
- 7 AB-AB songA · seaB · chivalry · strongA · skyB
- 8 ABBAB failsA · plainB · againB · valesA · strainB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How long, and yet how long, | 6 | ······ |
| Our leaders will we hail from over seas, | 10 | //˘······· |
| Master and kings from feudal monarchies, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘˘ |
| And mock their ancient song | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With echoes weak of foreign melodies? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| That distant isle mist-wreathed, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Mantled in unimaginable green, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘˘˘· |
| Too long hath been our mistress and our queen. | 10 | ····//˘·/· |
| Our fathers have bequeathed | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Too deep a love for her, our hearts within. | 10 | ······/··· |
| She made the whole world ring | 6 | ······ |
| With the brave exploits of her children strong, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| And with the matchless music of her song. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Too late, too late we cling | 6 | ······ |
| To alien legends, and their strains prolong. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| This fresh young world I see, | 6 | ······ |
| With heroes, cities, legends of her own; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| With a new race of men, and overblown | 10 | ········˘/ |
| By winds from sea to sea, | 6 | ······ |
| Decked with the majesty of every zone. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| I see the glittering tops | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Of snow-peaked mounts, the wid'ning vale's expanse, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Large prairies where free herds of horses prance, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Exhaustless wealth of crops, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| In vast, magnificent extravagance. | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| These grand, exuberant plains, | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| These stately rivers, each with many a mouth, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| The exquisite beauty of the soft-aired south, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The boundless seas of grains, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Luxuriant forests' lush and splendid growth. | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The distant siren-song | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Of the green island in the eastern sea, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Is not the lay for this new chivalry. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| It is not free and strong | 6 | ······ |
| To chant on prairies 'neath this brilliant sky. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The echo faints and fails; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It suiteth not, upon this western plain, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Out voice or spirit; we should stir again | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The wilderness, and make the vales | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Resound unto a yet unheard-of strain. | 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.