Freedom
I will not follow you, my bird,I will not follow you.I would not breathe a word, my bird,To bring thee here anew.
I love the free in thee, my bird,The lure of freedom drew;The light you fly toward, my bird,I fly with thee unto.
And there we yet will meet, my bird,Though far I go from you,Where in the light outpoured, my bird,Are love and freedom too.
About this text
Freedom is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Divine Vision, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #36913; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George William Russell, Freedom, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/freedom.html, id L11520.
Form and metre
Freedom is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables.
See other poems in common measure.
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 birdA · youB · birdA · anewB
- 2 A-A- birdA · drew · birdA · unto
- 3 ABAB birdA · youB · birdA · tooB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I will not follow you, my bird, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I will not follow you. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I would not breathe a word, my bird, | 8 | ········ |
| To bring thee here anew. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I love the free in thee, my bird, | 8 | ········ |
| The lure of freedom drew; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The light you fly toward, my bird, | 8 | ········ |
| I fly with thee unto. | 6 | ······ |
| And there we yet will meet, my bird, | 8 | ········ |
| Though far I go from you, | 6 | ······ |
| Where in the light outpoured, my bird, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Are love and freedom too. | 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.