Act III: Scene II. — A Street. Enter John Endicott and Upsall
Scourged in three towns! and yet the busy peopleGo up and down the streets on their affairsOf business or of pleasure, as if nothingHad happened to disturb them or their thoughts!When bloody tragedies like this are acted,The pulses of a nation should stand stillThe town should be in mourning, and the peopleSpeak only in low whispers to each other.
UPSALL.I know this people; and that underneathA cold outside there burns a secret fireThat will find vent and will not be put out,Till every remnant of these barbarous lawsShall be to ashes burned, and blown away.
Scourged in three towns! It is incredibleSuch things can be! I feel the blood within meFast mounting in rebellion, since in vainHave I implored compassion of my father!
UPSALL.You know your father only as a father;I know him better as a Magistrate.He is a man both loving and severe;A tender heart; a will inflexible.None ever loved him more than I have loved him.He is an upright man and a just manIn all things save the treatment of the Quakers.
Yet I have found him cruel and unjustEven as a father. He has driven me forthInto the street; has shut his door upon me,With words of bitterness. I am as homelessAs these poor Quakers are.
UPSALL.Then come with me.You shall be welcome for your father's sake,And the old friendship that has been between us.He will relent erelong. A father's angerIs like a sword without a handle, piercingBoth ways alike, and wounding him that wields itNo less than him that it is pointed at.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- incredible a.
- Not credible; surpassing belief; too extraordinary and improbable to admit of belief; unlikely; marvelous; fabulous. [L. incredibilis: cf. OF. incredible. See In- not, and Credible.]
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
- relent v. i.
- To become less rigid or hard; to yield; to dissolve; to melt; to deliquesce. [F. ralentir, fr. L. pref. re- re- + ad to + lentus pliant, flexible, slow. See Lithe.]
- erelong adv.
- Before the ere long.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act III: Scene II. — A Street. Enter John Endicott and Upsall is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Act III: Scene II. — A Street. Enter John Endicott and Upsall, in Christus: A Mystery (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-christus/act-iii-scene-ii-a-street-enter-john-endicott-and-upsall.html, id L19224.
Form and metre
Act III: Scene II. — A Street. Enter John Endicott and Upsall is 39 lines in 6 stanzas.
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----AA- peopleA · affairs · nothing · thoughts · acted · stillA · peopleA · other
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Scourged in three towns! and yet the busy people | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Go up and down the streets on their affairs | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Of business or of pleasure, as if nothing | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Had happened to disturb them or their thoughts! | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| When bloody tragedies like this are acted, | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| The pulses of a nation should stand still | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The town should be in mourning, and the people | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Speak only in low whispers to each other. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| UPSALL. | 2 | ·· |
| I know this people; and that underneath | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A cold outside there burns a secret fire | 11 | ··//···/˘/˘ |
| That will find vent and will not be put out, | 10 | ·········· |
| Till every remnant of these barbarous laws | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Shall be to ashes burned, and blown away. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Scourged in three towns! It is incredible | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Such things can be! I feel the blood within me | 11 | ··········· |
| Fast mounting in rebellion, since in vain | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Have I implored compassion of my father! | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| UPSALL. | 2 | ·· |
| You know your father only as a father; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| I know him better as a Magistrate. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| He is a man both loving and severe; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| A tender heart; a will inflexible. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| None ever loved him more than I have loved him. | 10 | ·/········ |
| He is an upright man and a just man | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| In all things save the treatment of the Quakers. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Yet I have found him cruel and unjust | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Even as a father. He has driven me forth | 10 | /··/˘··/·· |
| Into the street; has shut his door upon me, | 11 | ··········· |
| With words of bitterness. I am as homeless | 11 | ···/˘˘···/˘ |
| As these poor Quakers are. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| UPSALL. | 2 | ·· |
| Then come with me. | 4 | ···· |
| You shall be welcome for your father's sake, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And the old friendship that has been between us. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| He will relent erelong. A father's anger | 12 | ··˘/····/˘/˘ |
| Is like a sword without a handle, piercing | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Both ways alike, and wounding him that wields it | 11 | ··˘/·/˘···· |
| No less than him that it is pointed at. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
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