Burial of Barber
BEAR him, comrades, to his grave;Never over one more braveShall the prairie grasses weep,In the ages yet to come,When the millions in our room,What we sow in tears, shall reap.
Bear him up the icy hill,With the Kansas, frozen stillAs his noble heart, below,And the land he came to tillWith a freeman's thews and will,And his poor hut roofed with snow.
One more look of that dead face,Of his murder's ghastly trace!One more kiss, O widowed oneLay your left hands on his brow,Lift your right hands up, and vowThat his work shall yet be done.
Patience, friends! The eye of GodEvery path by Murder trodWatches, lidless, day and night;And the dead man in his shroud,And his widow weeping loud,And our hearts, are in His sight.
Every deadly threat that swellsWith the roar of gambling hells,Every brutal jest and jeer,Every wicked thought and planOf the cruel heart of man,Though but whispered, He can hear!
We in suffering, they in crime,Wait the just award of time,Wait the vengeance that is due;Not in vain a heart shall break,Not a tear for Freedom's sakeFall unheeded: God is true.
While the flag with stars bedeckedThreatens where it should protect,And the Law shakes Hands with Crime,What is left us but to wait,Match our patience to our fate,And abide the better time?
Patience, friends! The human heartEverywhere shall take our part,Everywhere for us shall pray;On our side are nature's laws,And God's life is in the causeThat we suffer for to-day.
Well to suffer is divine;Pass the watchword down the line,Pass the countersign: "Endure."Not to him who rashly dares,But to him who nobly bears,Is the victor's garland sure.
Frozen earth to frozen breast,Lay our slain one down to rest;Lay him down in hope and faith,And above the broken sod,Once again, to Freedom's God,Pledge ourselves for life or death,
That the State whose walls we lay,In our blood and tears, to-day,Shall be free from bonds of shame,And our goodly land untrodBy the feet of Slavery, shodWith cursing as with flame!
Plant the Buckeye on his grave,For the hunter of the slaveIn its shadow cannot rest; IAnd let martyr mound and treeBe our pledge and guarantyOf the freedom of the West!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- kansas n.
- A tribe of Indians allied to the Winnebagoes and Osages. They formerly inhabited the region which is now the State of Kansas, but were removed to the Indian Territory.
- lidless a.
- Having no lid, or not covered with the lids, as the eyes; hence, sleepless; watchful.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- award v. t.
- To give by sentence or judicial determination; to assign or apportion, after careful regard to the nature of the case; to adjudge; as, the arbitrators awarded damages to the complainant. [OF. eswarder to look at, consider, decide, judge; es (L. ex) + warder, garder, to observe, take heed, keep, fr. OHG. wart to watch, guard. See Ward.]
- countersign v. t.
- To sign on the opposite side of (an instrument or writing); hence, to sign in addition to the signature of a principal or superior, in order to attest the authenticity of a writing. [Counter- + sign: cf. F. contresigner.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- buckeye n.
- A name given to several American trees and shrubs of the same genus (Æsculus) as the horse chestnut. The Ohio buckeye, or Fetid buckeye, is Æsculus glabra.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Burial of Barber 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, Burial of Barber, 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/burial-of-barber.html, id L24897.
Form and metre
Burial of Barber is 72 lines in 12 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 8 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 AAB--B graveA · braveA · weepB · come · room · reapB
- 2 AABAAB hillA · stillA · belowB · tillA · willA · snowB
- 3 AABCCB faceA · traceA · oneB · browC · vowC · doneB
- 4 AABCCB godA · trodA · nightB · shroudC · loudC · sightB
- 5 AABCCB swellsA · hellsA · jeerB · planC · manC · hearB
- 6 AABCCB crimeA · timeA · dueB · breakC · sakeC · trueB
- 7 AABCCB bedeckedA · protectA · crimeB · waitC · fateC · timeB
- 8 AABCCB heartA · partA · prayB · lawsC · causeC · dayB
- 9 AABCCB divineA · lineA · endureB · daresC · bearsC · sureB
- 10 AA-BB- breastA · restA · faith · sodB · godB · death
- 11 AABCCB layA · dayA · shameB · untrodC · shodC · flameB
- 12 AABBB- graveA · slaveA · iB · treeB · guarantyB · west
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| BEAR him, comrades, to his grave; | 7 | ··/···· |
| Never over one more brave | 7 | /˘····· |
| Shall the prairie grasses weep, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In the ages yet to come, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When the millions in our room, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| What we sow in tears, shall reap. | 7 | ······· |
| Bear him up the icy hill, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With the Kansas, frozen still | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| As his noble heart, below, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the land he came to till | 7 | ······· |
| With a freeman's thews and will, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And his poor hut roofed with snow. | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| One more look of that dead face, | 7 | ······· |
| Of his murder's ghastly trace! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| One more kiss, O widowed one | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Lay your left hands on his brow, | 7 | ······· |
| Lift your right hands up, and vow | 7 | ······· |
| That his work shall yet be done. | 7 | ······· |
| Patience, friends! The eye of God | 7 | /˘····· |
| Every path by Murder trod | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Watches, lidless, day and night; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And the dead man in his shroud, | 7 | ······· |
| And his widow weeping loud, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And our hearts, are in His sight. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Every deadly threat that swells | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| With the roar of gambling hells, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Every brutal jest and jeer, | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Every wicked thought and plan | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Of the cruel heart of man, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Though but whispered, He can hear! | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| We in suffering, they in crime, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Wait the just award of time, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Wait the vengeance that is due; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Not in vain a heart shall break, | 7 | ······· |
| Not a tear for Freedom's sake | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Fall unheeded: God is true. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| While the flag with stars bedecked | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Threatens where it should protect, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| And the Law shakes Hands with Crime, | 7 | ······· |
| What is left us but to wait, | 7 | ······· |
| Match our patience to our fate, | 8 | ·//˘·/˘· |
| And abide the better time? | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Patience, friends! The human heart | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Everywhere shall take our part, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Everywhere for us shall pray; | 7 | /˘····· |
| On our side are nature's laws, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And God's life is in the cause | 7 | ······· |
| That we suffer for to-day. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Well to suffer is divine; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Pass the watchword down the line, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Pass the countersign: "Endure." | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Not to him who rashly dares, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But to him who nobly bears, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Is the victor's garland sure. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Frozen earth to frozen breast, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lay our slain one down to rest; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Lay him down in hope and faith, | 7 | ······· |
| And above the broken sod, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Once again, to Freedom's God, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Pledge ourselves for life or death, | 8 | ·˘˘/···· |
| That the State whose walls we lay, | 7 | ······· |
| In our blood and tears, to-day, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shall be free from bonds of shame, | 7 | ······· |
| And our goodly land untrod | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| By the feet of Slavery, shod | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| With cursing as with flame! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Plant the Buckeye on his grave, | 7 | ··/···· |
| For the hunter of the slave | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In its shadow cannot rest; I | 8 | ··/·/˘·· |
| And let martyr mound and tree | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Be our pledge and guaranty | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Of the freedom of the West! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.