Laurel · John Greenleaf Whittier · Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform

At Port Royal

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) · 1865

common measure · ABAB · 36 lines · from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform

THE tent-lights glimmer on the land,The ship-lights on the sea;The night-wind smooths with drifting sandOur track on lone Tybee.

At last our grating keels outslide,Our good boats forward swing;And while we ride the land-locked tide,Our negroes row and sing.

For dear the bondman holds his giftsOf music and of songThe gold that kindly Nature siftsAmong his sands of wrong:

The power to make his toiling daysAnd poor home-comforts please;The quaint relief of mirth that playsWith sorrow's minor keys.

Another glow than sunset's fireHas filled the west with light,Where field and garner, barn and byre,Are blazing through the night.

The land is wild with fear and hate,The rout runs mad and fast;From hand to hand, from gate to gateThe flaming brand is passed.

The lurid glow falls strong acrossDark faces broad with smilesNot theirs the terror, hate, and lossThat fire yon blazing piles.

With oar-strokes timing to their song,They weave in simple laysThe pathos of remembered wrong,The hope of better days,--

The triumph-note that Miriam sung,The joy of uncaged birdsSoftening with Afric's mellow tongueTheir broken Saxon words.

Words in this poem

lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
keels n.: Ninepins. See Kayles.
outslide v. i.: To slide outward, onward, or forward; to advance by sliding.
bondman n.: A man slave, or one bound to service without wages. [Bond,a.orn.+ man.]
quaint a.: Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
garner n.: A granary; a building or place where grain is stored for preservation. [OE. garner, gerner, greiner, OF. gernier, grenier, F. grenier, fr. L. granarium, fr. granum. See 1st Grain, and cf. Granary.]
byre n.: A cow house. [N. of Eng.& Scot.] [Cf, Icel. bür pantry, Sw. bur cage,Dan. buur, E.bower.]
lurid a.: Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

At Port Royal 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, At Port Royal, 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/at-port-royal.html, id L24915.

Form and metre

At Port Royal is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).

See other poems in common 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 ABAB land^A · sea^B · sand^A · tybee^B
2 ABAB outslide^A · swing^B · tide^A · sing^B
3 ABAB gifts^A · song^B · sifts^A · wrong^B
4 ABAB days^A · please^B · plays^A · keys^B
5 ABAB fire^A · light^B · byre^A · night^B
6 ABAB hate^A · fast^B · gate^A · passed^B
7 ABAB across^A · smiles^B · loss^A · piles^B
8 ABAB song^A · lays^B · wrong^A · days^B
9 ABAB sung^A · birds^B · tongue^A · words^B

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 common measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
THE tent-lights glimmer on the land,	8	···/˘···
The ship-lights on the sea;	6	······
The night-wind smooths with drifting sand	8	·····/˘·
Our track on lone Tybee.	7	/˘·····
At last our grating keels outslide,	8	··//˘·˘/
Our good boats forward swing;	7	/˘··/˘·
And while we ride the land-locked tide,	8	········
Our negroes row and sing.	7	/˘/˘···
For dear the bondman holds his gifts	8	···/˘···
Of music and of song	6	·/˘···
The gold that kindly Nature sifts	8	···/˘/˘·
Among his sands of wrong:	6	······
The power to make his toiling days	8	·/···/˘·
And poor home-comforts please;	6	···/˘·
The quaint relief of mirth that plays	8	··˘/····
With sorrow's minor keys.	6	·/˘/˘·
Another glow than sunset's fire	9	˘/˘··/·/˘
Has filled the west with light,	6	······
Where field and garner, barn and byre,	9	···/˘··/˘
Are blazing through the night.	6	·/˘···
The land is wild with fear and hate,	8	········
The rout runs mad and fast;	6	······
From hand to hand, from gate to gate	8	········
The flaming brand is passed.	6	·/˘···
The lurid glow falls strong across	8	·/˘···˘/
Dark faces broad with smiles	6	·/˘···
Not theirs the terror, hate, and loss	8	···/˘···
That fire yon blazing piles.	7	·/˘·/˘·
With oar-strokes timing to their song,	8	···/˘···
They weave in simple lays	6	···/˘·
The pathos of remembered wrong,	8	·/˘·˘/˘·
The hope of better days,--	6	···/˘·
The triumph-note that Miriam sung,	8	·/˘··/˘·
The joy of uncaged birds	6	······
Softening with Afric's mellow tongue	8	/˘···/˘·
Their broken Saxon words.	6	·/˘/˘·

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.

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