Garrison
THE storm and peril overpast,The hounding hatred shamed and still,Go, soul of freedom! take at lastThe place which thou alone canst fill.
Confirm the lesson taught of old--Life saved for self is lost, while theyWho lose it in His service holdThe lease of God's eternal day.
Not for thyself, but for the slaveThy words of thunder shook the world;No selfish griefs or hatred gaveThe strength wherewith thy bolts were hurled.
From lips that Sinai's trumpet blewWe heard a tender under song;Thy very wrath from pity grew,From love of man thy hate of wrong.
Now past and present are as one;The life below is life above;Thy mortal years have but begunThy immortality of love.
With somewhat of thy lofty faithWe lay thy outworn garment by,Give death but what belongs to death,And life the life that cannot die!
Not for a soul like thine the calmOf selfish ease and joys of sense;But duty, more than crown or palm,Its own exceeding recompense.
Go up and on thy day well done,Its morning promise well fulfilled,Arise to triumphs yet unwon,To holier tasks that God has willed.
Go, leave behind thee all that marsThe work below of man for man;With the white legions of the starsDo service such as angels can.
Wherever wrong shall right denyOr suffering spirits urge their plea,Be thine a voice to smite the lie,A hand to set the captive free!
Words in this poem
- hounding n.
- The act of one who hounds.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Garrison 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, Garrison, 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/garrison.html, id L24933.
Form and metre
Garrison is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABAB overpastA · stillB · lastA · fillB
- 2 ABAB oldA · theyB · holdA · dayB
- 3 ABAB slaveA · worldB · gaveA · hurledB
- 4 ABAB blewA · songB · grewA · wrongB
- 5 ABAB oneA · aboveB · begunA · loveB
- 6 -A-A faith · byA · death · dieA
- 7 ABAB calmA · senseB · palmA · recompenseB
- 8 -A-A done · fulfilledA · unwon · willedA
- 9 ABAB marsA · manB · starsA · canB
- 10 ABAB denyA · pleaB · lieA · freeB
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 storm and peril overpast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The hounding hatred shamed and still, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Go, soul of freedom! take at last | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The place which thou alone canst fill. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Confirm the lesson taught of old-- | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Life saved for self is lost, while they | 8 | ········ |
| Who lose it in His service hold | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The lease of God's eternal day. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Not for thyself, but for the slave | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Thy words of thunder shook the world; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No selfish griefs or hatred gave | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The strength wherewith thy bolts were hurled. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| From lips that Sinai's trumpet blew | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| We heard a tender under song; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy very wrath from pity grew, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From love of man thy hate of wrong. | 8 | ········ |
| Now past and present are as one; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The life below is life above; | 8 | ········ |
| Thy mortal years have but begun | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Thy immortality of love. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| With somewhat of thy lofty faith | 8 | ·//··/˘· |
| We lay thy outworn garment by, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Give death but what belongs to death, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And life the life that cannot die! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Not for a soul like thine the calm | 8 | ········ |
| Of selfish ease and joys of sense; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But duty, more than crown or palm, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Its own exceeding recompense. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Go up and on thy day well done, | 8 | ········ |
| Its morning promise well fulfilled, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Arise to triumphs yet unwon, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| To holier tasks that God has willed. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Go, leave behind thee all that mars | 8 | ········ |
| The work below of man for man; | 8 | ········ |
| With the white legions of the stars | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Do service such as angels can. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Wherever wrong shall right deny | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Or suffering spirits urge their plea, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Be thine a voice to smite the lie, | 8 | ········ |
| A hand to set the captive free! | 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.