For Righteousness' Sake
THE age is dull and mean. Men creep,Not walk; with blood too pale and tameTo pay the debt they owe to shame;Buy cheap, sell dear; eat, drink, and sleepDown-pillowed, deaf to moaning want;Pay tithes for soul-insurance; keepSix days to Mammon, one to Cant.
In such a time, give thanks to God,That somewhat of the holy rageWith which the prophets in their ageOn all its decent seemings trod,Has set your feet upon the lie,That man and ox and soul and clodAre market stock to sell and buy!
The hot words from your lips, my own,To caution trained, might not repeat;But if some tares among the wheatOf generous thought and deed were sown,No common wrong provoked your zeal;The silken gauntlet that is thrownIn such a quarrel rings like steel.
The brave old strife the fathers sawFor Freedom calls for men againLike those who battled not in vainFor England's Charter, Alfred's law;And right of speech and trial justWage in your name their ancient warWith venal courts and perjured trust.
God's ways seem dark, but, soon or late,They touch the shining hills of day;The evil cannot brook delay,The good can well afford to wait.Give ermined knaves their hour of crime;Ye have the future grand and great,The safe appeal of Truth to Time!
Words in this poem
- pillowed a.
- Provided with a pillow or pillows; having the head resting on, or as on, a pillow.
- mammon n.
- Riches; wealth; the god of riches; riches, personified. [L. mammona, Gr. mam; cf. Heb. matm a hiding place, subterranean storehouse, treasury, fr. taman to hide.]
- clod n.
- A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- gauntlet n.
- A glove of such material that it defends the hand from wounds. [F. gantelet, dim. of gant glove, LL. wantus, of Teutonic origin; cf. D. want, Sw. & Dan. vante, Icel. vöttr, for vantr.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- perjured a.
- Guilty of perjury; having sworn falsely; forsworn.
- ermined a.
- Clothed or adorned with the fur of the ermine.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For Righteousness' Sake 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, For Righteousness' Sake, 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/for-righteousness-sake.html, id L24894.
Form and metre
For Righteousness' Sake is 35 lines in 5 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBACAC, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABBA-A- creepA · tameB · shameB · sleepA · want · keepA · cant
- 2 ABBACAC godA · rageB · ageB · trodA · lieC · clodA · buyC
- 3 ABBACAC ownA · repeatB · wheatB · sownA · zealC · thrownA · steelC
- 4 ABBAC-C sawA · againB · vainB · lawA · justC · war · trustC
- 5 ABBACAC lateA · dayB · delayB · waitA · crimeC · greatA · timeC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE age is dull and mean. Men creep, | 8 | ········ |
| Not walk; with blood too pale and tame | 8 | ········ |
| To pay the debt they owe to shame; | 8 | ········ |
| Buy cheap, sell dear; eat, drink, and sleep | 8 | ········ |
| Down-pillowed, deaf to moaning want; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Pay tithes for soul-insurance; keep | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Six days to Mammon, one to Cant. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In such a time, give thanks to God, | 8 | ········ |
| That somewhat of the holy rage | 8 | ·//··/˘· |
| With which the prophets in their age | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On all its decent seemings trod, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Has set your feet upon the lie, | 8 | ········ |
| That man and ox and soul and clod | 8 | ········ |
| Are market stock to sell and buy! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The hot words from your lips, my own, | 8 | ········ |
| To caution trained, might not repeat; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But if some tares among the wheat | 8 | ········ |
| Of generous thought and deed were sown, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No common wrong provoked your zeal; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| The silken gauntlet that is thrown | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In such a quarrel rings like steel. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The brave old strife the fathers saw | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For Freedom calls for men again | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Like those who battled not in vain | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For England's Charter, Alfred's law; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And right of speech and trial just | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wage in your name their ancient war | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With venal courts and perjured trust. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| God's ways seem dark, but, soon or late, | 8 | ········ |
| They touch the shining hills of day; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The evil cannot brook delay, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The good can well afford to wait. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Give ermined knaves their hour of crime; | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Ye have the future grand and great, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The safe appeal of Truth to Time! | 8 | ··˘/···· |
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.