To High-born Poets
There comes a pitiless cry from the oppressed--A cry from the toilers of Babylon for their rest.--O Poet, thou art holden with a vow:The light of higher worlds is on thy brow,And Freedom’s star is soaring in thy breast.Go, be a dauntless voice, a bugle-cryIn darkening battle when the winds are high--A clear sane cry wherein the God is heardTo speak to men the one redeeming word.No peace for thee, no peace,Till blind oppression cease;The stones cry from the walls,Till the gray injustice falls--Till strong men come to build in freedom-fateThe pillars of the new Fraternal State.
Let trifling pipe be mute,Fling by the languid lute:Take down the trumpet and confront the Hour,And speak to toil-worn nations from a tower--Take down the horn wherein the thunders sleep,Blow battles into men--call down the fire--The daring, the long purpose, the desire;Descend with faith into the Human Deep,And ringing to the troops of right a cheer,Make known the Truth of Man in holy fear;Send forth thy spirit in a storm of song,A tempest flinging fire upon the wrong.
Words in this poem
- dauntless a.
- Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.
- sane a.
- Being in a healthy condition; not deranged; acting rationally; -- said of the mind. [L. sanus; cf. Gr. Sound, a.]
- fraternal a.
- Pf, pertaining to, or involving, brethren; becoming to brothers; brotherly; as, fraternal affection; a fraternal embrace. [F. fraternel, LL. fraternalis, fr. L. fraternus, fr. frater brother. See Brother.]
- confront v. t.
- To stand facing or in front of; to face; esp. to face hostilely; to oppose with firmness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To High-born Poets is in the public domain. This text is taken from The man with the hoe, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #67012; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Markham, To High-born Poets, in The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #67012, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-man-with-hoe/to-high-born-poets.html, id L24796.
Form and metre
To High-born Poets is 27 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBACCDDEEFFGG oppressedA · restA · vowB · browB · breastA · cryC · highC · heardD · wordD · peaceE · ceaseE · wallsF · fallsF · fateG · stateG
- 2 AABBCDDCEEFF muteA · luteA · hourB · towerB · sleepC · fireD · desireD · deepC · cheerE · fearE · songF · wrongF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There comes a pitiless cry from the oppressed-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A cry from the toilers of Babylon for their rest.-- | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| O Poet, thou art holden with a vow: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The light of higher worlds is on thy brow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And Freedom’s star is soaring in thy breast. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Go, be a dauntless voice, a bugle-cry | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In darkening battle when the winds are high-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A clear sane cry wherein the God is heard | 10 | ·········· |
| To speak to men the one redeeming word. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| No peace for thee, no peace, | 6 | ······ |
| Till blind oppression cease; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The stones cry from the walls, | 6 | ······ |
| Till the gray injustice falls-- | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Till strong men come to build in freedom-fate | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The pillars of the new Fraternal State. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Let trifling pipe be mute, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fling by the languid lute: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Take down the trumpet and confront the Hour, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| And speak to toil-worn nations from a tower-- | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Take down the horn wherein the thunders sleep, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Blow battles into men--call down the fire-- | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| The daring, the long purpose, the desire; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Descend with faith into the Human Deep, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| And ringing to the troops of right a cheer, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Make known the Truth of Man in holy fear; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Send forth thy spirit in a storm of song, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A tempest flinging fire upon the wrong. | 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.