Italy
ACROSS the sea I heard the groansOf nations in the intervalsOf wind and wave. Their blood and bonesCried out in torture, crushed by thrones,And sucked by priestly cannibals.
I dreamed of Freedom slowly gainedBy martyr meekness, patience, faith,And lo! an athlete grimly stained,With corded muscles battle-strained,Shouting it from the fields of death!
I turn me, awe-struck, from the sight,Among the clamoring thousands mute,I only know that God is right,And that the children of the lightShall tread the darkness under foot.
I know the pent fire heaves its crust,That sultry skies the bolt will formTo smite them clear; that Nature mustThe balance of her powers adjust,Though with the earthquake and the storm.
God reigns, and let the earth rejoice!I bow before His sterner plan.Dumb are the organs of my choice;He speaks in battle's stormy voice,His praise is in the wrath of man!
Yet, surely as He lives, the dayOf peace He promised shall be ours,To fold the flags of war, and layIts sword and spear to rust away,And sow its ghastly fields with flowers!
Words in this poem
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
- grimly a.
- Grim; hideous; stern.
- corded a.
- Bound or fastened with cords.
- 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,]
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- sterner n.
- A director. Dr. R. Clerke. [See 3d Stern.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Italy 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, Italy, 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/italy.html, id L24966.
Form and metre
Italy is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 A-AA- groansA · intervals · bonesA · thronesA · cannibals
- 2 A-AA- gainedA · faith · stainedA · strainedA · death
- 3 A-AA- sightA · mute · rightA · lightA · foot
- 4 ABAAB crustA · formB · mustA · adjustA · stormB
- 5 ABAAB rejoiceA · planB · choiceA · voiceA · manB
- 6 ABAAB dayA · oursB · layA · awayA · flowersB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ACROSS the sea I heard the groans | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Of nations in the intervals | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Of wind and wave. Their blood and bones | 8 | ········ |
| Cried out in torture, crushed by thrones, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And sucked by priestly cannibals. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| I dreamed of Freedom slowly gained | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| By martyr meekness, patience, faith, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And lo! an athlete grimly stained, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| With corded muscles battle-strained, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Shouting it from the fields of death! | 8 | /˘······ |
| I turn me, awe-struck, from the sight, | 8 | ········ |
| Among the clamoring thousands mute, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I only know that God is right, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And that the children of the light | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shall tread the darkness under foot. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I know the pent fire heaves its crust, | 8 | ····/··· |
| That sultry skies the bolt will form | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To smite them clear; that Nature must | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The balance of her powers adjust, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘/ |
| Though with the earthquake and the storm. | 8 | ···/···· |
| God reigns, and let the earth rejoice! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I bow before His sterner plan. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Dumb are the organs of my choice; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He speaks in battle's stormy voice, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| His praise is in the wrath of man! | 8 | ········ |
| Yet, surely as He lives, the day | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of peace He promised shall be ours, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| To fold the flags of war, and lay | 8 | ········ |
| Its sword and spear to rust away, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And sow its ghastly fields with flowers! | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
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