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

Into Southern Bondage

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) · 1865

trochaic tetrameter · ABCCDDEEABFF · 72 lines · from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform

GONE, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone.Where the slave-whip ceaseless swings,Where the noisome insect stings,Where the fever demon strewsPoison with the falling dews,Where the sickly sunbeams glareThrough the hot and misty air;Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone,From Virginia's hills and waters;Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone.There no mother's eye is near them,There no mother's ear can hear them;Never, when the torturing lashSeams their back with many a gash,Shall a mother's kindness bless them,Or a mother's arms caress them.Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone,From Virginia's hills and waters;Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone.Oh, when weary, sad, and slow,From the fields at night they go,Faint with toil, and racked with pain,To their cheerless homes again,There no brother's voice shall greet them;There no father's welcome meet them.Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone,From Virginia's hills and waters;Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone.From the tree whose shadow layOn their childhood's place of play;From the cool spring where they drank;Rock, and hill, and rivulet bank;From the solemn house of prayer,And the holy counsels there;Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone,From Virginia's hills and waters;Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone;Toiling through the weary day,And at night the spoiler's prey.Oh, that they had earlier died,Sleeping calmly, side by side,Where the tyrant's power is o'er,And the fetter galls no moreGone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone,From Virginia's hills and waters;Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone.By the holy love He beareth;By the bruised reed He spareth;Oh, may He, to whom aloneAll their cruel wrongs are known,Still their hope and refuge prove,With a more than mother's love.Gone, gone,--sold and gone,To the rice-swamp dank and lone,From Virginia's hills and waters;Woe is me, my stolen daughters!

Words in this poem

dank n.: Moisture; humidity; water.
lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
ceaseless a.: Without pause or end; incessant.
noisome a.: Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous; unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome effluvia. [For noysome, fr. noy for annoy. See Annoy.]
glare v. i.: To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
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,]
caress n.: An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
drank n.: Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]

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

About this text

Into Southern Bondage 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, Into Southern Bondage, 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/into-southern-bondage.html, id L24855.

Form and metre

Into Southern Bondage is 72 lines in 6 stanzas of 12 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABCCDDEEABFF, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).

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 ABCCDDEEABFF gone^A · lone^B · swings^C · stings^C · strews^D · dews^D · glare^E · air^E · gone^A · lone^B · waters^F · daughters^F
2 ABCCDDCCABEE gone^A · lone^B · them^C · them^C · lash^D · gash^D · them^C · them^C · gone^A · lone^B · waters^E · daughters^E
3 ABCCDDEEABFF gone^A · lone^B · slow^C · go^C · pain^D · again^D · them^E · them^E · gone^A · lone^B · waters^F · daughters^F
4 ABCCDDEEABFF gone^A · lone^B · lay^C · play^C · drank^D · bank^D · prayer^E · there^E · gone^A · lone^B · waters^F · daughters^F
5 ABCCDD--ABEE gone^A · lone^B · day^C · prey^C · died^D · side^D · o'er · more · gone^A · lone^B · waters^E · daughters^E
6 AB--BBCCABDD gone^A · lone^B · beareth · spareth · alone^B · known^B · prove^C · love^C · gone^A · lone^B · waters^D · daughters^D

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
GONE, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone.	7	·······
Where the slave-whip ceaseless swings,	7	····/˘·
Where the noisome insect stings,	7	··/˘/··
Where the fever demon strews	7	··/˘/˘·
Poison with the falling dews,	7	/˘··/˘·
Where the sickly sunbeams glare	7	··/˘/··
Through the hot and misty air;	7	····/˘·
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,	7	·······
From Virginia's hills and waters;	8	·˘/˘··/˘
Woe is me, my stolen daughters!	8	····/˘/˘
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone.	7	·······
There no mother's eye is near them,	8	··/˘····
There no mother's ear can hear them;	8	··/˘····
Never, when the torturing lash	8	/˘··/˘˘·
Seams their back with many a gash,	8	····/˘··
Shall a mother's kindness bless them,	8	··/˘/˘··
Or a mother's arms caress them.	8	··/˘·˘/·
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,	7	·······
From Virginia's hills and waters;	8	·˘/˘··/˘
Woe is me, my stolen daughters!	8	····/˘/˘
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone.	7	·······
Oh, when weary, sad, and slow,	7	··/˘···
From the fields at night they go,	7	·······
Faint with toil, and racked with pain,	8	·····˘··
To their cheerless homes again,	7	··/˘·˘/
There no brother's voice shall greet them;	8	··/˘····
There no father's welcome meet them.	8	··/˘/˘··
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,	7	·······
From Virginia's hills and waters;	8	·˘/˘··/˘
Woe is me, my stolen daughters!	8	····/˘/˘
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone.	7	·······
From the tree whose shadow lay	7	····/··
On their childhood's place of play;	7	··/····
From the cool spring where they drank;	7	·······
Rock, and hill, and rivulet bank;	8	····/˘˘·
From the solemn house of prayer,	7	··/˘···
And the holy counsels there;	7	··/˘/˘·
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,	7	·······
From Virginia's hills and waters;	8	·˘/˘··/˘
Woe is me, my stolen daughters!	8	····/˘/˘
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone;	7	·······
Toiling through the weary day,	7	/˘··/˘·
And at night the spoiler's prey.	7	····/˘·
Oh, that they had earlier died,	8	····/˘˘·
Sleeping calmly, side by side,	7	/˘/˘···
Where the tyrant's power is o'er,	8	··/˘/˘··
And the fetter galls no more	7	··/˘···
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,	7	·······
From Virginia's hills and waters;	8	·˘/˘··/˘
Woe is me, my stolen daughters!	8	····/˘/˘
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone.	7	·······
By the holy love He beareth;	8	··/˘··/˘
By the bruised reed He spareth;	8	···˘··/˘
Oh, may He, to whom alone	7	·····˘/
All their cruel wrongs are known,	7	··/˘···
Still their hope and refuge prove,	7	····/˘·
With a more than mother's love.	7	····/˘·
Gone, gone,--sold and gone,	5	·····
To the rice-swamp dank and lone,	7	·······
From Virginia's hills and waters;	8	·˘/˘··/˘
Woe is me, my stolen daughters!	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.

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