A Summons
MEN of the North-land! where's the manly spiritOf the true-hearted and the unshackled gone?Sons of old freemen, do we but inheritTheir names alone?
Is the old Pilgrim spirit quenched within us,Stoops the strong manhood of our souls so low,That Mammon's lure or Party's wile can win usTo silence now?
Now, when our land to ruin's brink is verging,In God's name, let us speak while there is time!Now, when the padlocks for our lips are forging,Silence is crime!
What! shall we henceforth humbly ask as favorsRights all our own? In madness shall we barter,For treacherous peace, the freedom Nature gave us,God and our charter?
Here shall the statesman forge his human fetters,Here the false jurist human rights deny,And in the church, their proud and skilled abettorsMake truth a lie?
Torture the pages of the hallowed Bible,To sanction crime, and robbery, and blood?And, in Oppression's hateful service, libelBoth man and God?
Shall our New England stand erect no longer,But stoop in chains upon her downward way,Thicker to gather on her limbs and strongerDay after day?
Oh no; methinks from all her wild, green mountains;From valleys where her slumbering fathers lie;From her blue rivers and her welling fountains,And clear, cold sky;
From her rough coast, and isles, which hungry OceanGnaws with his surges; from the fisher's skiff,With white sail swaying to the billows' motionRound rock and cliff;
From the free fireside of her untought farmer;From her free laborer at his loom and wheel;From the brown smith-shop, where, beneath the hammer,Rings the red steel;
From each and all, if God hath not forsakenOur land, and left us to an evil choice,Loud as the summer thunderbolt shall wakenA People's voice.
Startling and stern! the Northern winds shall bear itOver Potomac's to St. Mary's wave;And buried Freedom shall awake to hear itWithin her grave.
Oh, let that voice go forth! The bondman sighingBy Santee's wave, in Mississippi's cane,Shall feel the hope, within his bosom dying,Revive again.
Let it go forth! The millions who are gazingSadly upon us from afar shall smile,And unto God devout thanksgiving raisingBless us the while.
Oh for your ancient freedom, pure and holy,For the deliverance of a groaning earth,For the wronged captive, bleeding, crushed, and lowly,Let it go forth!
Sons of the best of fathers! will ye falterWith all they left ye perilled and at stake?Ho! once again on Freedom's holy altarThe fire awake.
Prayer-strenthened for the trial, come together,Put on the harness for the moral fight,And, with the blessing of your Heavenly Father,Maintain the right
Words in this poem 17
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- 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,]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- jurist n.
- One who professes the science of law; one versed in the law, especially in the civil law; a writer on civil and international law. [F. juriste, LL. jurista, fr. L. jus, juris, right, law. See Just, a.]
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- skiff n.
- A small, light boat. [F. esquif, fr. OHG. skif, G. schiff. See Ship.]
- fireside n.
- A place near the fire or hearth; home; domestic life or retirement.
- thunderbolt n.
- A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth.
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- bondman n.
- A man slave, or one bound to service without wages. [Bond,a.orn.+ man.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- 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.]
- thanksgiving n.
- The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Summons is in the public domain. This text is taken from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform, Complete Volume III of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Project Gutenberg ebook #9580; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Greenleaf Whittier, A Summons, in Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform (1865), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9580, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whittier-anti-slavery/a-summons.html, id L24849.
Form and metre
A Summons is 68 lines in 17 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 9 of its 17 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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.
- 2 A-A- usA · low · usA · now
- 3 -A-A verging · timeA · forging · crimeA
- 4 -A-A favors · barterA · us · charterA
- 5 ABAB fettersA · denyB · abettorsA · lieB
- 6 A-A- bibleA · blood · libelA · god
- 7 ABAB longerA · wayB · strongerA · dayB
- 8 ABAB mountainsA · lieB · fountainsA · skyB
- 9 ABAB oceanA · skiffB · motionA · cliffB
- 10 -A-A farmer · wheelA · hammer · steelA
- 11 ABAB forsakenA · choiceB · wakenA · voiceB
- 12 ABAB itA · waveB · itA · graveB
- 13 ABAB sighingA · caneB · dyingA · againB
- 14 ABAB gazingA · smileB · raisingA · whileB
- 15 A-A- holyA · earth · lowlyA · forth
- 16 ABAB falterA · stakeB · altarA · awakeB
- 17 -A-A together · fightA · father · rightA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MEN of the North-land! where's the manly spirit | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Of the true-hearted and the unshackled gone? | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
| Sons of old freemen, do we but inherit | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Their names alone? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Is the old Pilgrim spirit quenched within us, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Stoops the strong manhood of our souls so low, | 11 | ···/··/˘··· |
| That Mammon's lure or Party's wile can win us | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| To silence now? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Now, when our land to ruin's brink is verging, | 12 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| In God's name, let us speak while there is time! | 10 | ·········· |
| Now, when the padlocks for our lips are forging, | 12 | ···/··/˘··/˘ |
| Silence is crime! | 4 | /˘·· |
| What! shall we henceforth humbly ask as favors | 11 | ···///˘··/˘ |
| Rights all our own? In madness shall we barter, | 12 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| For treacherous peace, the freedom Nature gave us, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘·· |
| God and our charter? | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Here shall the statesman forge his human fetters, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Here the false jurist human rights deny, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And in the church, their proud and skilled abettors | 11 | ··········· |
| Make truth a lie? | 4 | ···· |
| Torture the pages of the hallowed Bible, | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| To sanction crime, and robbery, and blood? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And, in Oppression's hateful service, libel | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Both man and God? | 4 | ···· |
| Shall our New England stand erect no longer, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| But stoop in chains upon her downward way, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thicker to gather on her limbs and stronger | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Day after day? | 4 | ···· |
| Oh no; methinks from all her wild, green mountains; | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| From valleys where her slumbering fathers lie; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘· |
| From her blue rivers and her welling fountains, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And clear, cold sky; | 4 | ···· |
| From her rough coast, and isles, which hungry Ocean | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Gnaws with his surges; from the fisher's skiff, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With white sail swaying to the billows' motion | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Round rock and cliff; | 4 | ···· |
| From the free fireside of her untought farmer; | 12 | ···/˘·····/˘ |
| From her free laborer at his loom and wheel; | 11 | ···/˘˘····· |
| From the brown smith-shop, where, beneath the hammer, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Rings the red steel; | 4 | ···· |
| From each and all, if God hath not forsaken | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Our land, and left us to an evil choice, | 11 | /˘······/˘· |
| Loud as the summer thunderbolt shall waken | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| A People's voice. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Startling and stern! the Northern winds shall bear it | 11 | /˘···/˘···· |
| Over Potomac's to St. Mary's wave; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And buried Freedom shall awake to hear it | 11 | ·/˘/˘·˘/··· |
| Within her grave. | 4 | ···· |
| Oh, let that voice go forth! The bondman sighing | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| By Santee's wave, in Mississippi's cane, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Shall feel the hope, within his bosom dying, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Revive again. | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| Let it go forth! The millions who are gazing | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Sadly upon us from afar shall smile, | 10 | /˘····˘/·· |
| And unto God devout thanksgiving raising | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Bless us the while. | 4 | ···· |
| Oh for your ancient freedom, pure and holy, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| For the deliverance of a groaning earth, | 11 | ··˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| For the wronged captive, bleeding, crushed, and lowly, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Let it go forth! | 4 | ···· |
| Sons of the best of fathers! will ye falter | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| With all they left ye perilled and at stake? | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| Ho! once again on Freedom's holy altar | 11 | ··˘/·/˘/˘/˘ |
| The fire awake. | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| Prayer-strenthened for the trial, come together, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Put on the harness for the moral fight, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And, with the blessing of your Heavenly Father, | 12 | ···/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Maintain the right | 4 | ˘/·· |
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.