New Hampshire
GOD bless New Hampshire! from her granite peaksOnce more the voice of Stark and Langdon speaks.The long-bound vassal of the exulting SouthFor very shame her self-forged chain has broken;Torn the black seal of slavery from her mouth,And in the clear tones of her old time spoken!Oh, all undreamed-of, all unhoped-for changesThe tyrant's ally proves his sternest foe;To all his biddings, from her mountain ranges,New Hampshire thunders an indignant No!Who is it now despairs? Oh, faint of heart,Look upward to those Northern mountains cold,Flouted by Freedom's victor-flag unrolled,And gather strength to bear a manlier partAll is not lost. The angel of God's blessingEncamps with Freedom on the field of fight;Still to her banner, day by day, are pressing,Unlooked-for allies, striking for the rightCourage, then, Northern hearts! Be firm, be true:What one brave State hath done, can ye not also do?
Words in this poem
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
New Hampshire 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, New Hampshire, 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/new-hampshire.html, id L24866.
Form and metre
New Hampshire is 20 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABCBCDEDEFGGFHIHIJJ. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABCBCDEDEFGGFHIHIJJ peaksA · speaksA · southB · brokenC · mouthB · spokenC · changesD · foeE · rangesD · noE · heartF · coldG · unrolledG · partF · blessingH · fightI · pressingH · rightI · trueJ · doJ
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| GOD bless New Hampshire! from her granite peaks | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Once more the voice of Stark and Langdon speaks. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The long-bound vassal of the exulting South | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
| For very shame her self-forged chain has broken; | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Torn the black seal of slavery from her mouth, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And in the clear tones of her old time spoken! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Oh, all undreamed-of, all unhoped-for changes | 11 | ··˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| The tyrant's ally proves his sternest foe; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| To all his biddings, from her mountain ranges, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| New Hampshire thunders an indignant No! | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Who is it now despairs? Oh, faint of heart, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Look upward to those Northern mountains cold, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Flouted by Freedom's victor-flag unrolled, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| And gather strength to bear a manlier part | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| All is not lost. The angel of God's blessing | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Encamps with Freedom on the field of fight; | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Still to her banner, day by day, are pressing, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Unlooked-for allies, striking for the right | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Courage, then, Northern hearts! Be firm, be true: | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| What one brave State hath done, can ye not also do? | 12 | ·········/˘· |
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.