To Captain H—-D, of the 65th Regiment
SAY, muse divine, can hostile scenes delightThe warrior's bosom in the fields of fight?Lo! here the christian and the hero joinWith mutual grace to form the man divine.In H-----D see with pleasure and surprise,Where valour kindles, and where virtue lies:Go, hero brave, still grace the post of fame,And add new glories to thine honour'd name,Still to the field, and still to virtue true:Britannia glories in no son like you.
To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earlof DARTMOUTH, His Majesty's PrincipalSecretary of State for North-America, &c.
HAIL, happy day, when, smiling like the morn,Fair Freedom rose New-England to adorn:The northern clime beneath her genial ray,Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway:Elate with hope her race no longer mourns,Each soul expands, each grateful bosom burns,While in thine hand with pleasure we beholdThe silken reins, and Freedom's charms unfold.Long lost to realms beneath the northern skiesShe shines supreme, while hated faction dies:Soon as appear'd the Goddess long desir'd,Sick at the view, she languish'd and expir'd;Thus from the splendors of the morning lightThe owl in sadness seeks the caves of night.No more, America, in mournful strainOf wrongs, and grievance unredress'd complain,No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain,Which wanton Tyranny with lawless handHad made, and with it meant t' enslave the land.Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song,Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung,Whence flow these wishes for the common good,By feeling hearts alone best understood,I, young in life, by seeming cruel fateWas snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat:What pangs excruciating must molest,What sorrows labour in my parent's breast?Steel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'dThat from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd:Such, such my case. And can I then but prayOthers may never feel tyrannic sway?For favours past, great Sir, our thanks are due,And thee we ask thy favours to renew,Since in thy pow'r, as in thy will before,To sooth the griefs, which thou did'st once deplore.May heav'nly grace the sacred sanction giveTo all thy works, and thou for ever liveNot only on the wings of fleeting Fame,Though praise immortal crowns the patriot's name,But to conduct to heav'ns refulgent fane,May fiery coursers sweep th' ethereal plain,And bear thee upwards to that blest abode,Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God.
Words in this poem 19
- britannia n.
- A white-metal alloy of tin, antimony, bismuth, copper, etc. It somewhat resembles silver, and isused for table ware. Called also Britannia metal. [From L. Britannia Great Britain.]
- 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.]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- grievance n.
- A cause of uneasiness and complaint; a wrong done and suffered; that which gives ground for remonstrance or resistance, as arising from injustice, tyranny, etc.; injury. [OF. grcvance. See Grieve, v. t.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- peruse v. t.
- To observe; to examine with care. [Pref. per- + use.]
- excruciating
- . Torturing; racking.
- molest v. t.
- To trouble; to disturb; to render uneasy; to interfere with; to vex. [F. molester, L. molestare, fr. molestus troublesome, fr. moles a heavy mass, load, burden. See 3d Mole.]
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- tyrannic a.
- Of or pertaining to a tyrant; suiting a tyrant; unjustly severe in government; absolute; imperious; despotic; cruel; arbitrary; as, a tyrannical prince; a tyrannical master; tyrannical government. [L. tyrannicus, Gr. tyrannique. See Tyrant.]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- deplore v. t.
- To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over. [L. deplorare; de- + plorare to cry out, wail, lament; prob. akin to pluere to rain, and to E. flow: cf. F. déplorer. Cf. Flow.]
- refulgent a.
- Casting a bright light; radiant; brilliant; resplendent; shining; splendid; as, refulgent beams. [L. refulgens, p. pr. of refulgere to flash back, to shine bright; pref. re- re- + fulgere to shine. See Fulgent.]
- fane n.
- A temple; a place consecrated to religion; a church. [L. fanum a place dedicated to some deity, a sanctuary, fr. fari to speak. See Fame.]
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Captain H—-D, of the 65th Regiment is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems on various subjects, religious and moral, Project Gutenberg ebook #409; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phillis Wheatley, To Captain H—-D, of the 65th Regiment, in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #409, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wheatley-poems/to-captain-h-d-of-the-65th-regiment.html, id L25931.
Form and metre
To Captain H—-D, of the 65th Regiment is 56 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 54% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE delightA · fightA · joinB · divineB · surpriseC · liesC · fameD · nameD · trueE · youE
- 2 AA- earlA · principalA · —
- 3 AABB--CCDD--EEFFFGG--HH--II--JJKKLL--MMNN-- mornA · adornA · rayB · swayB · mourns · burns · beholdC · unfoldC · skiesD · diesD · desir'd · expir'd · lightE · nightE · strainF · complainF · chainF · handG · landG · song · sprung · goodH · understoodH · fate · seat · molestI · breastI · mov'd · belov'd · prayJ · swayJ · dueK · renewK · beforeL · deploreL · give · live · fameM · nameM · faneN · plainN · abode · god
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SAY, muse divine, can hostile scenes delight | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| The warrior's bosom in the fields of fight? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Lo! here the christian and the hero join | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With mutual grace to form the man divine. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| In H-----D see with pleasure and surprise, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Where valour kindles, and where virtue lies: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Go, hero brave, still grace the post of fame, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And add new glories to thine honour'd name, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Still to the field, and still to virtue true: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Britannia glories in no son like you. | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| of DARTMOUTH, His Majesty's Principal | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Secretary of State for North-America, &c. | 12 | /˘·˘····˘/˘· |
| HAIL, happy day, when, smiling like the morn, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Fair Freedom rose New-England to adorn: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The northern clime beneath her genial ray, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway: | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Elate with hope her race no longer mourns, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Each soul expands, each grateful bosom burns, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| While in thine hand with pleasure we behold | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The silken reins, and Freedom's charms unfold. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Long lost to realms beneath the northern skies | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| She shines supreme, while hated faction dies: | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Soon as appear'd the Goddess long desir'd, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Sick at the view, she languish'd and expir'd; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Thus from the splendors of the morning light | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The owl in sadness seeks the caves of night. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No more, America, in mournful strain | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Of wrongs, and grievance unredress'd complain, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Had made, and with it meant t' enslave the land. | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Whence flow these wishes for the common good, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| By feeling hearts alone best understood, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| What pangs excruciating must molest, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘·˘/ |
| What sorrows labour in my parent's breast? | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Steel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'd | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Such, such my case. And can I then but pray | 10 | ·········· |
| Others may never feel tyrannic sway? | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| For favours past, great Sir, our thanks are due, | 10 | ·/˘···/··· |
| And thee we ask thy favours to renew, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Since in thy pow'r, as in thy will before, | 10 | ·········· |
| To sooth the griefs, which thou did'st once deplore. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| May heav'nly grace the sacred sanction give | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To all thy works, and thou for ever live | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Though praise immortal crowns the patriot's name, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| But to conduct to heav'ns refulgent fane, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| May fiery coursers sweep th' ethereal plain, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| And bear thee upwards to that blest abode, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God. | 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.