O Star of France
O star of France,The brightness of thy hope and strength and fame,Like some proud ship that led the fleet so long,Beseems to-day a wreck driven by the gale, a mastless hulk,And ’mid its teeming madden’d half-drown’d crowds,Nor helm nor helmsman.
Dim smitten star,Orb not of France alone, pale symbol of my soul, its dearest hopes,The struggle and the daring, rage divine for liberty,Of aspirations toward the far ideal, enthusiast’s dreams of brotherhood,Of terror to the tyrant and the priest.
Star crucified--by traitors sold,Star panting o’er a land of death, heroic land,Strange, passionate, mocking, frivolous land.
Miserable! yet for thy errors, vanities, sins, I will not now rebuke thee,Thy unexampled woes and pangs have quell’d them all,And left thee sacred.
In that amid thy many faults thou ever aimedst highly,In that thou wouldst not really sell thyself however great the price,In that thou surely wakedst weeping from thy drugg’d sleep,In that alone among thy sisters thou, giantess, didst rend the onesthat shamed thee,In that thou couldst not, wouldst not, wear the usual chains,This cross, thy livid face, thy pierced hands and feet,The spear thrust in thy side.
O star! O ship of France, beat back and baffled long!Bear up O smitten orb! O ship continue on!
Sure as the ship of all, the Earth itself,Product of deathly fire and turbulent chaos,Forth from its spasms of fury and its poisons,Issuing at last in perfect power and beauty,Onward beneath the sun following its course,So thee O ship of France!
Finish’d the days, the clouds dispel’dThe travail o’er, the long-sought extrication,When lo! reborn, high o’er the European world,(In gladness answering thence, as face afar to face, reflecting oursColumbia,)Again thy star O France, fair lustrous star,In heavenly peace, clearer, more bright than ever,Shall beam immortal.
Words in this poem 15
- mastless a.
- Bearing no mast; as, a mastless oak or beech. [See lst Mast.]
- hulk n.
- The body of a ship or decked vessel of any kind; esp., the body of an old vessel laid by as unfit for service. [OE. hulke a heavy ship, AS. hulc a light, swift ship; akin to D. hulk a ship of burden, G. holk, OHG. holcho; perh. fr. LL. holcas, Gr. Wolf, Holcad.]
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- unexampled a.
- Having no example or similar case; being without precedent; unprecedented; unparalleled.
- quell v. t.
- To take the life of; to kill. [OE. quellen to kill, AS. cwellan, causative of cwelan to die; akin to OHG. quellen to torment, Icel. kvelja. See Quail to cower.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- giantess n.
- A woman of extraordinary size.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- deathly a.
- Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
- extrication n.
- The act or process of extricating or disentangling; a freeing from perplexities; disentanglement.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- columbia n.
- America; the United States; -- a poetical appellation given in honor of Columbus, the discoverer. Dr. T. Dwight.
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O Star of France is in the public domain. This text is taken from Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook #1322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walt Whitman, O Star of France, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/o-star-of-france.html, id L04010.
Form and metre
O Star of France is 41 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 3 -AA sold · landA · landA
- 8 A-A----- dispel'dA · extrication · worldA · ours · columbia · star · ever · immortal
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O star of France, | 4 | ···· |
| The brightness of thy hope and strength and fame, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like some proud ship that led the fleet so long, | 10 | ·········· |
| Beseems to-day a wreck driven by the gale, a mastless hulk, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| And ’mid its teeming madden’d half-drown’d crowds, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor helm nor helmsman. | 5 | ···/· |
| Dim smitten star, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Orb not of France alone, pale symbol of my soul, its dearest hopes, | 16 | ····˘/·/˘····/˘· |
| The struggle and the daring, rage divine for liberty, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/·/˘˘ |
| Of aspirations toward the far ideal, enthusiast’s dreams of brotherhood, | 20 | ··˘/˘····˘/˘/˘···/˘· |
| Of terror to the tyrant and the priest. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Star crucified--by traitors sold, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Star panting o’er a land of death, heroic land, | 12 | ·/˘·····˘/˘· |
| Strange, passionate, mocking, frivolous land. | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Miserable! yet for thy errors, vanities, sins, I will not now rebuke thee, | 20 | /˘˘˘···/˘/˘˘·····˘/· |
| Thy unexampled woes and pangs have quell’d them all, | 11 | ··········· |
| And left thee sacred. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In that amid thy many faults thou ever aimedst highly, | 15 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| In that thou wouldst not really sell thyself however great the price, | 16 | ·····/˘·˘/·/˘··· |
| In that thou surely wakedst weeping from thy drugg’d sleep, | 13 | ···/˘··/˘···· |
| In that alone among thy sisters thou, giantess, didst rend the ones | 17 | ··˘/···/˘·/˘˘···· |
| that shamed thee, | 3 | ··· |
| In that thou couldst not, wouldst not, wear the usual chains, | 13 | ·········/˘˘· |
| This cross, thy livid face, thy pierced hands and feet, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The spear thrust in thy side. | 6 | ······ |
| O star! O ship of France, beat back and baffled long! | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Bear up O smitten orb! O ship continue on! | 12 | ···/˘···˘/˘· |
| Sure as the ship of all, the Earth itself, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Product of deathly fire and turbulent chaos, | 13 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Forth from its spasms of fury and its poisons, | 12 | ···/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Issuing at last in perfect power and beauty, | 13 | /˘˘···˘//˘·/˘ |
| Onward beneath the sun following its course, | 11 | /˘····/˘˘·· |
| So thee O ship of France! | 6 | ······ |
| Finish’d the days, the clouds dispel’d | 8 | /˘······ |
| The travail o’er, the long-sought extrication, | 11 | ·˘/·····˘/˘ |
| When lo! reborn, high o’er the European world, | 12 | ··//····˘/˘· |
| (In gladness answering thence, as face afar to face, reflecting ours | 18 | ·/˘/˘˘···˘/··˘/˘/˘ |
| Columbia,) | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| Again thy star O France, fair lustrous star, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| In heavenly peace, clearer, more bright than ever, | 12 | ·/˘˘·/˘···/˘ |
| Shall beam immortal. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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