Astraea
"Jove means to settleAstraea in her seat again,And let down from his golden chainAn age of better metal."
O POET rare and old!Thy words are prophecies;Forward the age of gold,The new Saturnian lies.
The universal prayerAnd hope are not in vain;Rise, brothers! and prepareThe way for Saturn's reign.
Perish shall all which takesFrom labor's board and can;Perish shall all which makesA spaniel of the man!
Free from its bonds the mind,The body from the rod;Broken all chains that bindThe image of our God.
Just men no longer pineBehind their prison-bars;Through the rent dungeon shineThe free sun and the stars.
Earth own, at last, untrodBy sect, or caste, or clan,The fatherhood of God,The brotherhood of man!
Fraud fail, craft perish, forthThe money-changers driven,And God's will done on earth,As now in heaven.
Words in this poem
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- saturnian a.
- Of or pertaining to Saturn, whose age or reign, from the mildness and wisdom of his government, is called the golden age. [L. Saturnius.]
- 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,]
- spaniel n.
- One of a breed of small dogs having long and thick hair and large drooping ears. The legs are usually strongly feathered, and the tail bushy. See Illust. under Clumber, and Cocker. [OF. espagneul, F. épagneul, espagnol Spanish, Sp. españnol, fr. España Spain, from L. Hispania.]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- fatherhood n.
- The state of being a father; the character or authority of a father; paternity.
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Astraea 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, Astraea, 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/astraea.html, id L24957.
Form and metre
Astraea is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in short 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 ABBA settleA · againB · chainB · metalA
- 2 ABAB oldA · propheciesB · goldA · liesB
- 3 ABAB prayerA · vainB · prepareA · reignB
- 4 ABAB takesA · canB · makesA · manB
- 5 ABAB mindA · rodB · bindA · godB
- 6 ABAB pineA · barsB · shineA · starsB
- 7 ABAB untrodA · clanB · godA · manB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Jove means to settle | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Astraea in her seat again, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And let down from his golden chain | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An age of better metal." | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| O POET rare and old! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thy words are prophecies; | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Forward the age of gold, | 6 | /˘···· |
| The new Saturnian lies. | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| The universal prayer | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And hope are not in vain; | 6 | ······ |
| Rise, brothers! and prepare | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The way for Saturn's reign. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Perish shall all which takes | 6 | /˘···· |
| From labor's board and can; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Perish shall all which makes | 6 | /˘···· |
| A spaniel of the man! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Free from its bonds the mind, | 6 | ······ |
| The body from the rod; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Broken all chains that bind | 6 | /˘···· |
| The image of our God. | 6 | ·/˘·/· |
| Just men no longer pine | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Behind their prison-bars; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Through the rent dungeon shine | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The free sun and the stars. | 6 | ······ |
| Earth own, at last, untrod | 6 | ······ |
| By sect, or caste, or clan, | 6 | ······ |
| The fatherhood of God, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The brotherhood of man! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fraud fail, craft perish, forth | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The money-changers driven, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| And God's will done on earth, | 6 | ······ |
| As now in heaven. | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.