"Liberty Enlightening the World"
Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhattan Bay,The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away:Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy handTo spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land.
No more thou dreamest of a peace reserved alone for thee,While friends are fighting for thy cause beyond the guardian sea:The battle that they wage is thine; thou fallest if they fall;The swollen flood of Prussian pride will sweep unchecked o'er all.
O cruel is the conquer-lust in Hohenzollern brains:The paths they plot to gain their goal are dark with shameful stains;No faith they keep, no law revere, no god but naked Might;They are the foemen of mankind. Up, Liberty, and smite!
Britain, and France, and Italy, and Russia newly born,Have waited for thee in the night. Oh, come as comes the morn!Serene and strong and full of faith, America, arise,With steady hope and mighty help to join thy brave Allies.
O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire,Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom's altar-fire:For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease,And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace.
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Liberty Enlightening the World" is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; 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 Van Dyke, "Liberty Enlightening the World", in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/liberty-enlightening-the-world.html, id L22939.
Form and metre
"Liberty Enlightening the World" is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB bayA · awayA · handB · landB
- 2 AABB theeA · seaA · fallB · allB
- 3 AABB brainsA · stainsA · mightB · smiteB
- 4 AABB bornA · mornA · ariseB · alliesB
- 5 AABB desireA · fireA · ceaseB · peaceB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhattan Bay, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘···˘/˘· |
| The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away: | 14 | ·········/˘·˘/ |
| Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land. | 14 | ·····/˘˘···/˘· |
| No more thou dreamest of a peace reserved alone for thee, | 14 | ···/˘···˘/˘/·· |
| While friends are fighting for thy cause beyond the guardian sea: | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| The battle that they wage is thine; thou fallest if they fall; | 14 | ·/˘······/˘··· |
| The swollen flood of Prussian pride will sweep unchecked o'er all. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘···˘/·· |
| O cruel is the conquer-lust in Hohenzollern brains: | 14 | ·/˘··/˘······· |
| The paths they plot to gain their goal are dark with shameful stains; | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| No faith they keep, no law revere, no god but naked Might; | 14 | ······˘/···/˘· |
| They are the foemen of mankind. Up, Liberty, and smite! | 14 | ······//·/˘˘·· |
| Britain, and France, and Italy, and Russia newly born, | 14 | /˘···/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| Have waited for thee in the night. Oh, come as comes the morn! | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| Serene and strong and full of faith, America, arise, | 14 | ˘/······˘/˘˘˘/ |
| With steady hope and mighty help to join thy brave Allies. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘·····˘/ |
| O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire, | 15 | ·/˘/˘·······˘/˘ |
| Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom's altar-fire: | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease, | 14 | ···/˘······/·· |
| And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace. | 14 | ···/˘····/˘˘·· |
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